Pervert x Pervert
by X-saviour
Summary: On his way home from school, Issei Hyodo comes across a strange, gray-haired man peeping on women at the spa. What is this man's purpose? How will heaven and hell survive the combined lewdness of Issei and said perverted man? Warning: Spoilers for High School DxD past Volume 4 and anime.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise or High School DxD.

Warning: Spoilers for High School DxD past Volume 4

Read, Review, and Enjoy.

* * *

"Prez! I'm not a swordsman like Kiba, a magician genius like Akeno, don't have the ridiculous superhuman strength that Koneko has, or Asia's healing powers. However, I still want to be the strongest pawn! For your sake, I would destroy even God himself!" A green light shone brightly from the jewel embedded in his left arm gauntlet. "Shine forth! Over-boost! Welsh Dragon Over-Booster! This is the power of a low-level devil: Balance Breaker, Boosted Gear Scale-mail!"

"The once sealed, Balance Breaker?" Rias, astonished by the Issei's transformation and rapid increase in power, stared at her lowly pawn fighting for her freedom.

"I'm not through yet! I'll show you the power my sensei entrusted to me! AH!" Issei screamed as power rushes through his recently developed chakra coils. An unearthly, purple light and golden, red-yellow aura erupted from the red dragon armor. The golden energy wrapped around the armor; single dragon tail split into nine, free-flowing golden tails. Two ear-like projections grew from the helmet. Soon after, the purple light solidified and engulfed the red aura. The extra layer took shape as well, that of an ancient Japanese samurai. Two feathery, purple wings jut out from where Scale-mail's rockets were located. Six black orbs comprised of every element formed a halo behind the Red Dragon Emperor.

"Boosted Gear: Susano'o!" The transformation finally settled as the wisped smoke clears to reveal Issei's Balance Breaker in combination with another power; a power that no devil in the royal court knows. Even the Devil King, Sirzechs Lucifer, can only gaze in awe upon the magnificent form. Shinto God of the seas and storms, Susano'o, for the Red Dragon Emperor to name the unknown purple armor after a god, it must be very powerful. Not just that, but the mask possessed a rather elongated nose, resembling a tengu.

"Riser…" Issei's tone suddenly turned dark and serious. In his right hand, he revealed a cross and bottle of holy water. Then, the six orbs behind Issei combined with the holy trinkets to form a katana. "I'll give you a warning now: surrender, or else. Boost! Transfer!" Taking the holy sword with his gauntlet, the Red Dragon Emperor infused Susano'o and blade with his own power.

"Wha-what? How are you holding those objects! They are supposed to cause intense pain to devils! You dare mock me?! You lowly, devil slave! Know your place! I'm Riser Phenex! The next head of the almighty Phenex clan! You shall perish here!" The irate fire bird hurled an enormous flaming ball at Susano'o. However, after the resulting smoke and debris cleared, the attack had no effect. Trembling, Riser threw fire balls again and again, yet the same result repeated continuously. The purple armor cloaking the Red Dragon Emperor nullified all the attacks.

"Riser, stop," Issei easily knocked aside another fire ball. "This blade, infused not only with a cross and holy water, contains _Onmyōton_, or so I'm told. I don't understand it myself, but if this cuts you, no matter what powers your clan bloodline offers, you will never recover or regenerate. I don't want use this, but for President's sake, I WILL CUT YOU DOWN!" Issei declared as he slowly marched toward the quivering Phenex. The slow march quickly turned into a full-on sprint at speeds which Riser and even higher-level devils could not perceive. Out of nowhere, a thunderous right hook empowered with holy attributes slammed into Riser's face.

"Asia told me that devils hate crosses and holy water," Issei Hyoudou reiterated from his bishop peer a fact spanning across those of his kind, "and that if I used both at the same time, the damage would be too much to recover from." Issei gripped Riser's head and rammed his knee into Riser's face. "Kiba told me to think like your enemy when fighting!" The nine tails sprouting from the dragon's tail wrapped around Riser's limbs. He forced the Phenex to prostrate, ready to decapitate. "Akeno told me, that magic flows from you through your aura! Concentrate all your energy and just feel the magic waves! Koneko told me to always aim for the center and never let your guard down!" Issei transferred all his power and anger into _Onmyōton_ blade.

"W-Wait!" Raiser coughed up as the instrument of his destruction hung over his head. "Do you understand what you're doing? Pure-blooded devils drastically decreased in population after the last war. For the sake of all devils, the marriage is absolute! It's not something a lowly, shitty devil like you could understand!"

"I don't understand difficult things. But you know, there is one thing I remember from when you defeated me earlier," A quick but painful image of Rias's face flashed before his eyes. "Prez was crying! That is the only reason I need to cut you down!"

"And one final thing my sensei told me: Never give up and never go back on my word. That is my Nindo! My way!" Issei screamed at the top of his lungs. With the power of light and darkness, the blade was ready to end Riser's life. Closing his eyes, Riser waited for the final slash, but it never came. Slowly, but fearfully opening his eyes, he saw his sister, Ravel Phenex, standing between the Red Dragon Emperor and him. Luckily, Issei was able to stop his blade mid-swing just before it touched the younger Phenex.

"If I kill your brother here, the Phenex clan and you will seek vengeance on me," Issei released Riser from his strangle-hold. Ravel quickly caught her brother from falling to the ground. Susano'o and Scale-Mail slowly dissolved; the tension holding Issei up suddenly gave out, and he fell to his knees as well. "My sensei told me, 'we are both but men, driven to seek vengeance under the banner of justice. However, if there is justice in vengeance, then justice will breed only more vengeance. Thus, continuing the vicious cycle of hatred. Dying like trash, never ending hatred, pain that never heals, that is war.' When he told me this, I never understood what he meant, but now, I think I have a small idea. Therefore, I shall spare your brother's life."

"Yet, who are the ones who write history, you little shit?" Issei's eyes widened as Riser kicked him, in the gut, with enough force to dent the opposite wall. "The ones who write history are the victors! The losers are thrown into the trash, like you! For humiliating me, you'll burn in the Phenex's everlasting hellfire!" Riser, neither heeding his sister's pleas nor listening to Sirzech's call to end the match, readied to incinerate Issei. However…

"Yo, what you think you're doing? I'd think a person of your stature have more class and honor," A hand gripped the salty Riser's wrist. Riser didn't even sense this person. Where had he come from?

"Jiraiya-sensei…" Issei mumbled in relief as his mentor arrives just in time. "The hero always arrives at the last second. Right, sensei?" Blood spewed from Issei's mouth as his injury from Riser's attack kicked in. He slowly lost consciousness.

* * *

Two months ago…

Issei Hyoudou, seventeen year old high school student, brown hair, light brown eyes, and average in every way possible except in one aspect: lust. His perversion knew no bounds or limits. His two friends, Mitsuda and Motohama, and he were known as the "Perverted Trio" amongst his peers at Kuoh Academy. Because of this, he has yet to find a girlfriend (though he unknowingly past first base in the past).

Just like any other normal, average day, Issei wore the standard academy uniform, but with a red undershirt and blue sneakers. On his usual route back home from school, there seemed to be an unusual presence coming from the massage/spa parlor he normally passed by and periodically peeked at the beautiful females enjoying a sauna. His pervert senses tingling, Issei cut into an alley that led to his group's hidden peep hole. However, someone else had the same idea. Said person looked to be into his fifties, long gray, spiky hair tied into a pony tail, two shoulder-length bangs that framed both sides of his face, red lines that ran down from his eyes, and an unusually shaped horned forehead protector. To add to his attire, the man wore a green short shirt and pants, and finally wore a red haori. Wearing such clothing in this modern age and giggling, this man was to be avoided, but at the moment, he's monopolizing Issei's personal peep hole, and that cannot slide.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Issei taps on the older man's shoulder, but no response. The man was too entranced at the site before him. "I'm right here! Listen God damn you!" The brown-haired teenager kicked him in the back. The resulting impact made a sound which alerted the female spa occupants of a potential peeping tom. Immediately, they all evacuated the sauna.

"Damn brat," The gray-haired man picked himself up. He stood at least a head and shoulder height above Issei. "What do you think you're doing? I was in the middle of very important research!"

"Research my ass!" Issei, pointing his finger accusingly, countered. "You're just a creepy old pervert getting off on young ladies. I don't know whether to turn you in or praise you! Who the hell are you?"

"Thanks for asking!" The man posed and whipped his long pony-tail. "Mt. Myoboku's Holy Master Sage, also known as Toad Sage. Believe it! Also, I'm not just a pervert…"

"Then what?" Issei felt as if he regretted asking.

"A super pervert!" A lecherous grin spread cheek to cheek as the so-called Toad Sage perverted groped a non-existent pair of breasts.

"…" Even Issei's lecherous mind paled in comparison to the perverseness this man excluded from every fiber of his being. However, this man stepped onto his turf. "You know, a guy like me committing this act is seen as a prank, but a guy your age will get sent to prison. What's stopping me from contacting the authorities?" Issei pulled out his cell phone and threatens to turn him in.

"What's stopping me from doing this?" Jiraiya countered. "Oi, oi! This is the guy peeping on you earlier. Please come out and punish him in the cruelest way possible."

Every alarm went off in Issei's brain. Turning around, he saw the sauna manager, employees, and female customers blocking the exit, but when he turned back, Jiraiya was nowhere to be seen. Slowly, the gang forced Issei's back to the walls. Eyes quickly shifting left and right, he found no way out of this situation. Accepting his fate, he closed his eyes, but suddenly, what felt like a gust of wind swept him off his feet. When everything settled down, he found himself sitting on a fountain's edge in the local park where Jiraiya handed him what appeared to be an orange book.

"Look kid, you and I got on the wrong foot here. Here's my apology," The older man gave him the orange book.

"Wha…how did you…what's this?" Issei's mind went left and right as he incoherently formed his questions. Taking a closer look at the cover, he immediately recognized the title. "Isn't this _Make-Out Violence_? This is the announced sequel to the bestselling adult novel that came out late last month! How did you get this? Wait…" The dots began to connect. "Jiraiya, are you the _Jiraiya_, author of _Make-out Paradise_?!"

"That I am. I'm surprised you know of my greatness. The first book is off-limits to anyone under eighteen, but who cares about age restrictions. I can tell you have a taste for great writing and art. Tell you what, I'm in need of an assistant; if you keep my identity a secret, I'll make you that assistant," Jiraiya offered to the young man. Stars intensely lit up in said young man's eyes. Nodding his head exuberantly, Issei gladly accepted his off.

"Good. Let's meet at this location again tomorrow at this time. Remember tell no one about this arrangement except your parents, the book, or my identity. Got it?" Jiraiya quickly laid out the conditions to Issei's newfound apprenticeship. Accepting any conditions he may have had, Issei, on cloud-nine right under the long desired fluffy bounce of a woman's breasts, left him.

"That left arm of his," Once Issei was out of sight, Jiraiya's demeanor turned from jovial to serious, "there's something in there. Even though this whole town is saturated with energy, that arm in particular gave off an energy that felt eerily similar to _**him**_. Does that make him one of them? I'll need to keep a close watch over Issei Hyoudou. However, there's something else I need to investigate first."

* * *

The next day, Friday, a crowd of students split as if Moses commanded the Red Sea to part. The Kuoh Academy students made way for the school's two gems, the top idols: Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima. Both busty, bodily mature for their age, women wore the standard female academy uniform: a white long-sleeved, button-down shirt with a black ribbon, a black shoulder cape and matching button-down corset, and a magenta skirt with white accents. Rias Gremory, heir to the Gremory glan, had blue-green eyes and amazingly long and beautiful crimson red hair reaching down to her thighs. A single strand stuck out from the top of the redhead. Her best friend and queen, Akeno Himejima, was bustier and had long raven hair, violent eyes, pale skin, and beasts comparable to those of Tsunade and the Mizukage. She tied the long hair with an orange ribbon into a pony tail reaching down to her legs. The pair walked down the ordinary school front as if they were celebrities walking down a red carpet. However, a person, oblivious to the unfolding event, accidentally stepped in front of them. The three bumped into each other, but only the two women fell to the ground.

"My apologies," The student held out his hands to help up the two. He pulled up Rias with his left and Akeno with his right.

"That's ok. We also were not prepared," Rias brushes aside her bangs to get a look at the guy. What she was not prepared for was how handsome the guy was. Even though he was human, his looks were on high male devil standards. Wearing the standard male academy uniform, he had onyx black eyes, chin-length bangs, and spiky hair jutting out the back. His fair-skin and looks gave him that bishounen vibe on par to that of Yuuto Kiba! Even the angry female student population fell head-over-heels just from his face and completely forgot the fact that he bumped into the school's idols.

"I've never seen you before. New this year?" Akeno asked as she straightened her skirt. "Is it not polite to introduce yourself after helping two young ladies?" She flirtatiously suggested with a coy, playful look in her eyes.

"Sasuke Uchiha, 2nd year, just transferred. I am looking for the admissions department to turn in the necessary forms," The black-hair, new student responded formally without a hint of nervousness. His deep, manly voice set a good number of the female students over the edge. Akeno pouted; he did not react at all to her attempt to play with his emotions. Was he frigid?

"Just down the hall on the first floor. Have fun during your time here, Mr. Uchiha," Rias cordially welcomed the new student. She already could tell that he'll make an impact in this school. He already marked his presence amongst the female students as the hottest guy in school before he even stepped foot onto the institution.

With a curt, silent nod, Sasuke made his way to the admissions department.

* * *

Perverted giggles quietly sounded from a pair peeping on the girl's locker room. Normally, this pair had a third member, and the trio routinely peeped on the female kendo club members whilst they changed. The female flesh and soft milky skin nearly sent the two over the edge. However, they wondered where the third member was. What was greater than witnessing the grandeur of the female physique? Unbeknownst to them, someone found them. Silently, said person crept up behind them. Revealing her presence, she tapped the two on the shoulders. Eyes glazed over, they barely noticed a flash of pink before the two were decked by the most powerful punches they'll ever feel in their entire lives.

"AHHH!"

The student body and Issei Hyoudou lifted their heads when a loud scream pierced the entire school building. Sighing, Issei knew what most likely happened: his friends, Mitsuda and Motohama, skipped first period, had been discovered, and the kendo club girls had their way with them, again. This time, though, he was not on the receiving end. Instead, he was in home room as he giggled perversely at the chapter he just finished reading. Jiraiya was a genius! The writing style, descriptive scenes, and actual plot had him engrossed from the first chapter. Now he can't put the book down. Even in first period Issei read almost the whole time and kept his giggles to a minimum, but a few strays got out. When that happened, the whole class knew instantly who the source was, but he didn't care. Though, the teacher did and nearly confiscated the book. The class was abuzz with energy and anticipation. A new, transfer student apparently was going to make a debut.

"Ok, class, I'd like to introduce to you our newest student. Please, introduce yourself," the teacher instructed. The new female student wrote her name on the white board.

"Hello, I'm Sakura Haruno. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I hope we get along well this year," The pink-hair student bowed courteously. Though the pink hair definitely stood out, what the class noticed was her distinctively large forehead. Recognizing the stares she received, Sakura sighed. Prejudice was everywhere she went, but one boy wasn't looking. Instead, the brown-hair guy was head deep into whatever book he was reading. Sakura noticed some female students groaned out of dismay. She deduced that they were waiting for Sasuke, but the administration assigned him to another second year class.

"Please take the empty seat," the teacher pointed out the empty seat which was right behind the boy reading the book. Nodding, Sakura took her seat. Throughout the whole homeroom, the boy never acknowledged her presence.

* * *

"Thank you for coming," A bespectacled young, slim woman greeted the redhead she called for personally. Sona Shitori, or Sitri, styled her black hair in a short bob cut and had violet eyes. The hair style, glasses, and posture conveyed a regal presence around her. Standing next to her was Tsubaki Shinra. Though Tsubaki also wore glasses and had black hair, her semi-rimmed, square spectacle frame and long knee-length hair differentiated her from her king. Together, Sona and Tsubaki were the student council's president and vice-president respectively.

"It's not like you to contact me personally unless something important. What's going on?" Rias graciously drank the warm tea Tsubaki placed for her.

"I believe we have an intruder in our territory," Sona went straight to the point. "Normally, something like a stray devil would not cause concern, but I don't think we're dealing with a stray devil or fallen angel." Sona pulled out two student files and placed them in front of Rias. The redhead looked at who the fields belonged to: Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno.

"This new guy? Sasuke Uchiha, Akeno and I accidently bumped into him this morning. I also agree with your suspicions," Rias set her finished tea which Tsubaki immediately removed. "If he were a normal human, I would have felt his presence, but I felt nothing. There was nothing around him, as if he were air. He must be skilled to completely cover his presence like this. You also suspect this girl, Sakura Haruno?"

"Yes. According to their files, the two came from the same hometown and school before transferring to Kuoh Academy. However, this is the disturbing part. Tsubaki and I do not recall ever processing these two," Sona relayed this bit of information that had Rias curious. Sona was normally on top of everything, and if she were not, Tsubaki would pick up the slack. "Even though your elder brother is the academy's administrator, the student council coordinates with admissions and registration to determine who are accepted into this school, including transfers. Procedures are processed at minimum in a week. Admissions and Registration accepted these two immediately without discussing anything with me. When I asked them what had happened, the admissions staff could not remember. I don't remember ever writing my signature on these forms either. It's almost as if…"

"Admissions and the student council were under an illusion," Rias finished her childhood friend's thought. She narrowed her eyes. Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno were able to slip underneath both their noses; these two duped the heirs to the Gremory and Sitri clan. "What is their purpose?"

"That, I do not know. Neither do I have the evidence to convict them of trespassing," Sona groans.

"Does my brother or your sister know?"

"I don't think so. These two were admitted so fast that probably the news has yet reached the underworld. If anything, Uchiha and Haruno don't seem to be the main culprit, but just lackeys, and the mastermind, if there is one, is not aware of our statuses as devils. Maybe this is a simple recon," Sona's keen mind immediately bypasses improbable scenarios and picks the best fit. "However, we never can be too cautious. Rias, may your peerage and you keep watch over these two? The student council will look further into their agenda."

"Sounds like a plan," Rias was about to take her leave before another topic came up in her head. "There's someone else I suspect. My rook, Koneko, while she tailed the student Issei Hyoudou, suspected to possess a sacred gear, saw Issei interacting with an elderly individual. However, much like Uchiha and Haruno, this man also removed his presence entirely."

"That is an issue, but we no information regarding this person. For now," Sona concluded, "we'll continue with our plan. You may take your leave."

"See ya soon," Rias waves good-bye.

* * *

Issei Hyoudou ran as fast as possible to reach the designated location where he was supposed to be his new mentor. Luckily, he noticed the time and left school instead of sticking around with Mitsuda and Motohama. However, instead of the local park fountain, Jiraiya changed the rendezvous to the local recreation center. Also, he notified Issei to bring his gym clothes. When he arrived, Issei found the older man at the quarter-mile, elliptical track course. Letting his mind stray, Issei noticed female joggers wearing nothing but sports bras and shorts. His eyes followed their every movement and slight jiggle as they ran around the track.

"I see you're already adept at focusing on the female form," Jiraiya commented. Immediately, Issei turned his direct attention to the older man; he didn't even notice Jiraiya sneaking up behind him. Wasn't he all the way over there a second ago? Laughing off the abrupt change in mood, Jiraiya patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll get to those sorts of things later. First we need to train," Jiraiya pointed at the running track in front of them.

"Um, Mr. Jiraiya, may I ask why?" Issei hesitantly questioned his mentor's methodology. What's the point to this? Aren't they writing books?

"The job world requires long hours of weary, and time consuming work. If you're going to work alongside me, we have to prepare you for sleepless nights to make deadlines and such. Now, that may not apply to the position I offered you, but you may not always be my assistant. One day, sooner rather than later, you'll be on the job market, and work some underpaid job extending way past the 9-5 work day. Issei, do you know what the word 'shinobi' stands for?" Jiraiya, after ranting his long spew of the adult world from which Issei is only one year from, asked him a peculiar question.

"Um…no," Issei rubbed the back of his head in slight embarrassment.

"Shinobi has the same kanji as 'endure,'" Jiraiya answered. "Shinobi are those who endure, no matter what obstacles may lay ahead of them. Tell me, what's your dream?"

"Well," Issei was at a loss of words from the sudden change in conversation. "Aside from touching a woman's boobs before dying and forming a harem, I haven't really thought about it." Issei reflected on his life so far. Growing up in a single child household with a working father and stay-at-home mother, he hadn't have true hardship in his life so far.

"Where I come from," Jiraiya started, but Issei noticed a faraway look in his eyes, "a person, far wiser and smarter than I, told my friend, 'shinobi are people who endure to achieve their goals, but depending on what they choose as their goal, they change.' So Issei, what does all that mean to you? Your goal, at minimum, is to one day have a girlfriend, judging from your response earlier. That's a nice goal for the short term, or long term depending on how your future relationship goes. However, I wonder how you'll change when you finally land a special one."

"Um…" Issei finally found a moment to interrupt Jiraiya's rant, "did you say your friend was a shinobi? Where the hell did you come from?! Do ninjas still exist?!"

"That is a story for another time. I'll tell you one day, but for now," Jiraiya pulled out another book from his pocket, "it's time to train. If you do well today, I may just let you have a peek at the rough draft of the third book in the _Make-Out_ series." The author dangled the prized item in front of the star-eyed teenager.

"No way, there's a third book," Issei, spellbound by the book tantalizingly hanging before him, immediately started warming up for whatever trials Jiraiya may put him through.

"That's the spirit!" Jiraiya chuckled at his assistant's sudden enthusiasm. "However, how about you bring over your friend?" Jiraiya pointed towards the dark, open entrance. Issei, unaware of the other person, looked at that direction as well.

From the shadows came a petite, young Kuoh academy student sporting the standard female attire. The adolescent had hazel eyes and white hair with two long bangs growing past her shoulders and several loose bangs hanging over her forehead, while the back had a short bob cut. Issei knew who this person: Koneko Toujou. Aside from Rias and Akeno, the top Kuoh Academy idols, Koneko is quite popular amongst certain groups of guys, and amongst girls, she's treated as a mascot for her childishly cute face and small body. Though beyond the cute factor, she's rather emotionless beneath.

"Well, introduce me to your cute friend here," Jiraiya patted Issei on the shoulder. This prompted Issei to stand upright and gentlemanly mediate between the two.

"Jiraiya-sensei, this is Koneko Toujou. She's a first year student at the school I go to," Issei answered. Said student bowed courteously before the older man.

"Nice to meet you," Jiraiya extended his right hand. The little girl gripped the much larger hand compared to her petite one. Instantly, Jiraiya felt strength that exceeded what he expected from her small frame. Slightly narrowing her eyes, Koneko noticed that this man was not reacting to the amount of force she's exerting.

"Likewise, Mr. Jiraiya," Koneko responded with her small voice.

"How about it? Want to run with us?" Jiraiya offered the petite woman. "This boy here could use a bit of encouragement, if you know what I mean."

"Pervert," Koneko flat out called the older man. To this, Jiraiya laughed aloud.

"Oh, I'm not just any pervert," A lecherous grin spread across his face. "I'm a Super Pervert!" Jiraiya's hands wiggled suggestively as if they were groping a nonexistent woman.

"I'm leaving," Koneko immediately high-tailed out and away from potential stranger-danger.

"Damn you, Jiraiya-sensei!" Issei punched him in the arm. "Why did you have to do that? _The _Koneko Toujou was right here next to me! Why did you scare her away with your perverted tendencies?!"

"Lighten up kid. It's not like you were going to score with her anyhow. If I was not here, Koneko would have fled from you upon first sight," Jiraiya crossed his arms in a half-hearted attempt to dismiss the event. "_However, she seemed to be following Issei, and not for relationship purposes. Does she also sense the unusual power coming from Issei? Why is she interested in his potential abilities? Is she working on her own, or for someone else? Hopefully Sasuke and Sakura can find out since they are at school with her._" Jiraiya silently examined the situation in his head and not alarm the adolescent assistant.

"Damn," Issei, know Jiraiya was most likely correct, sighed. "Well, are we starting or what? I want to know what happens after _Make-Out Violence_!"

"Ho, you finished the second book in less than a day? With that diligence, you should be at the top of your class!" Jiraiya's ego went further up past the atmosphere and into space.

"Well, about that…" Issei sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. His grades are far from the top. He only passed the entrance exam to get into Kuoh Academy because of the number of girls at the school. Other than that, he's average academically.

"Anyhow, let's begin!"

* * *

The old school building, listed as one of the "seven wonders of school" at Kuoh Academy, stood silently amongst the trees shadowing the wooden walls. In a room located inside, President of the Occult Research Club, Rias Gremory, and her queen, Akeno Himejima, prepared to listen to Koneko's report on Issei and any progress on his sacred gear. According to her rook, Issei was training with the enigmatic man, named Jiraiya, for some unknown reason. Was this Jiraiya part of another faction? Was he a devil or fallen angel seeking Issei's sacred gear? From Koneko, Jiraiya, at minimum, possessed strength superior to that of a normal human. However like before, Koneko felt nothing from Jiraiya that indicated he belonged to any known race or faction.

"This is unsettling," Rias leaned back into her chair. "We still have no clues to their objectives. The only thing we know is that they are interested in Issei's sacred gear, as we are."

"My, oh my, what should we do about them?" Akeno smiled sweetly and yet behind those loving eyes held an extraordinary amount of lust, and not in a sexual connotation. Lightning slowly crackled from her fingertips.

"We can't take action in that manner since we have no evidence. Sona said that she's looking further into the matter. Even though it's only been less than twenty-four hours, Sona normally would have something more substantial. So far, we know nothing about Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno aside from their previous hometown, school, and family background. Even then, she and I are suspecting forgery amongst these documents. Jiraiya, surprisingly lacks a surname, is the author of the highly awarded _Make-Out Paradise_, an adult novel," Rias read off a report Sona sent to her in the morning. Aside from Jiraiya's background in writing, nothing else of use was discovered.

"Birds of a feather flock together," Koneko blandly commented before sipping her tea. Obviously, she referred to Jiraiya's and Issei's perverted tendencies.

"We can tell these three are not human, but what race or faction do they belong to? Koneko, you're sure you didn't feel anything when you physically shook this man's hand?" Rias asked her rook once more. To that question, Koneko slightly stiffened.

"That man, Jiraiya, is most definitely human. I think the reason we didn't feel any aura or presence from him is because we are viewing the situation in the wrong perspective. Though I cannot confirm, I think the man uses chakra," Koneko, with a slight quiver in her tone, stated her opinion. Rias and Akeno were both astonished by this revelation.

"Far-fetched as it may be," Rias began, "all living creatures possess energy necessary to live, life force. As you know first-hand Koneko, this energy comes from the combination of spiritual energy and physical energy to generate chakra. Though not potent as demonic energy or magic, chakra, as seen in martial artists, can be a powerful weapon. However, do you think this man may be able to…"

Before Rias could complete her question, she noticed the pained look in her rook's eyes. Both Rias and Akeno knew of Koneko's sister. It was only because of her older brother, Sirzechs, that Koneko was still alive after her sister killed their former devil master and went rogue. This event traumatized the young yokai and left her near emotionless.

"I'll confirm this on my own," Koneko declared with more vigor in her voice than she normally used. "If Jiraiya can really use senjutsu and not lose himself to mania, maybe there's hope for her."

"You sure you can handle this?" Rias, concerned, asked her rook for confirmation. "We don't know his agenda, strength, or abilities. I can send Kiba with you."

"It's alright," Koneko held up her palm, indicating Rias to stop. "If Jiraiya is related to my sister at all, it's my responsibility to handle this."

"Ok," Rias allowed, "continue your surveillance over Issei Hyoudou and Jiraiya. Akeno and I will watch over Uchiha and Haruno. Just be sure to summon us if something goes wrong, ok?" The king gently asked her servant. Koneko nodded, and the meeting adjourned.

* * *

Saturday morning, Issei felt like puddy; his legs were about to give out at any second. Who the hell wakes up at 5:00 am in the morning via a bucket of cold water?! Jiraiya-sensei even persuaded Issei's parents to let him take Issei under his apprenticeship. His parents were too gullible at times! Seriously, I knew I lounged around all day, ate, slept, looked at manga (hentai), surfed the web (for hentai), and even exercised (masturbate). Ok, so I basically described myself as a NEET, but even so! A modern kid living in a city was not built for this sort of work! Jiraiya made me run how many laps around the track until the sun set. I'm pretty sure he had to carry me home. He's going to do who knows what to me today! Since the recreational center was not open this early in the morning, Jiraiya ordered me to meet at the park.

"Today, we're going to run around park until the sun rises as our warm-up!" Jiraiya said with a huge grin on his face. Issei's mouth dropped wide open.

"You're crazy old man!" Issei shouted and pointed his finger. "You said that I'll need this conditioning to handle my position as your apprentice and adulthood, but I see no point to this! My body feels like jelly, never smelled worse in my entire life from sweat, had no time to fulfill my perverted desires yesterday, and worst of all, you didn't even let me look at _Make-Out Tactics_! I've had enough!"

"Damn, you're such whiny bitch," Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head. "Look kid, if you didn't want to be here, you wouldn't have woken up and meet me in person. Your conscience compelled you to come. If you weren't here, what would you be doing? Sleeping? Jacking off? A voice in your head is telling you that you can be better than a bum sitting in front of the computer screen. Your entire life so far, you had have been a dependent child. It's your choice now: continue as a child and jack off, or be an adult and become a contributing member of society," Jiraiya stated in a stern tone.

What Jiraiya said really resonated within Issei. If he didn't want to come, he wouldn't have woken up in the first place. It may be only the second day of training, but he already felt a difference in his body. Maybe because this was the first time he did any form of strenuous exercise, but he noticed he lost some unnecessary fat. Sure Issei's a skinny adolescent, but seventeen years lack of exercise left him flappy. Another benefit is the allure of apprenticeship under Jiraiya, author of the Make-Out series. As an immature child, Issei realized that it'll take time and effort to gain Jiraiya's complete trust to help handle the writing process. Again, it's barely the second day, and Jiraiya only let Issei read the unreleased second book, Make-Out Violence, to apologize for ratting him out. Taking in a deep breath, Issei calmed down.

"Ok, I'll go along with whatever form of torture you deem necessary," Issei sighed as he resigned to his fate.

Jiraiya nodded. The two began jogging in the twilight hours. Slowly but surely, the early morning sky brightened until the dawn arrived. Jogging for about an hour, Issei decided to take a much needed break at the park fountain. Hanging his head high, he gulped down large volumes of air. Even a light jog tired him out. Just then, Jiraiya arrived with two water bottles and handed one to him. Issei immediately drank half. With a satisfied gasp, he finished the bottle in no time. Other morning joggers began their routes. The two pervs for several minutes observed females running in sport bras and short-shorts.

"For a brat, you did well this morning to keep up with me," Jiraiya broke the silence as he took another sip. "I was a bit harsh earlier, but that's because my previous student took everything I threw at him and weathered the storm. Maybe I was a bit naïve to believe you would respond the same way to training as he did. You reminded me a bit of my previous student, in that you're almost the complete opposite to him."

"Really?" Issei asked curiously. "Who was this student?"

"He was the number one hyperactive, unpredictable knucklehead. All throughout his life, he was considered the dead-last. He constantly failed at everything he did. You remind me a lot of him, but there's one thing he had that you don't," Jiraiya explained.

"And that would be?"

"Guts," Jiraiya stated bluntly, "The guts to never give up, that's what he had. His motto: 'I'll never give up and never go back on my word.' No matter what obstacle laid before him, he ran up the mountain and climbed to the top every time. Not once I saw him cry. He probably had no more tears to cry when I first met him."

"What does that mean?" Issei asked knowing something bad occurred.

"That is a story for another time, but my message is this: Never give up. Never go back on your word. If you make a promise, find a way to keep it. Stand up no matter what may lie ahead of you. One day, you'll reach your dream. Find a woman willing to let you grope her. Gather a harem. Well, that's enough for now. Go back home and eat breakfast, take a shower, and meet me at the recreational center," Jiraiya commanded.

"Yes sir!" Issei nodded and headed home. Unbeknownst to him, there was someone else spying on them.

"Now then, are you done stalking your prey, little kitty?" Jiraiya called out once Issei was out of sight. From behind a tree, Koneko revealed herself.

"As suspected, you are more than a normal human," Koneko confirmed her suspicion. No human could have detected her presence and locate her a second time.

"I can say the same to you. So, what faction do you belong to?" Jiraiya questioned; the atmosphere around him quickly intensified, even Koneko felt the weight upon her shoulders.

"I have come for diplomacy on behalf of the House of Gremory," Koneko, hoping her stunt would pay off, responded.

"House of Gremory?" Jiraiya questioned. "_They are not affiliated with the Khaos Brigade as far as I know. The house of Gremory and Sitri are the governing bodies in this area. I guess the heiresses saw through my charade to a degree. I'm also guessing they suspect Sasuke and Sakura. The two, Rias and Sona, and are stronger than I first assessed_." Jiraiya mentally analyzed the situation before him. Now, he can either come forward, or work around the current situation. "What does the House of Gremory want with me?"

"What are your current objectives? What are your plans regarding Issei Hyoudou? What is your relation with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno?" Koneko emotionlessly interrogated the older man.

"Can't answer, he's a pervert just like me, and I don't know a 'Sasuke Uchiha' or 'Sakura Haruno,'" Jiraiya answered in order respective to her question, but really didn't answer anything and outright lied.

"Fine," Koneko realized she wasn't going to get a straight answer from this man. "How are you able to use chakra? Can you utilize senjutsu?"

To her questions, Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. Unlike her previous questions, there was a small quiver in her voice. There was some bad blood with senjutsu in her past. Mastering the sage arts, Jiraiya knew the dangers of undergoing sage training. Perhaps a relative of hers failed at the sage arts and suffered the consequences.

"Yes, I'm the toad sage of Mt. Myoboku," Jiraiya, surprising Koneko, answered directly. "I'm a master of the sage arts, and fully utilize chakra and senjutsu."

"Then," Koneko whimpered, "how do you not fall to the madness of the world? Senjutsu users absorb the natural energy of your surroundings, but also take in the world's malice. The madness drives users to insanity!" Her eyes and voice expressed great pain underneath her emotionless mask.

"Hold out your fist," Jiraiya extended his right fist. Cautiously, the adolescent connected hers. Closing his eyes, Jiraiya took in a deep breath, and after a few moments, he released the link with her. "I understand. Meet me tomorrow morning. I'll help you understand senjutsu and reconcile your past."

"Wha…" Koneko, extremely confused, was at a loss for words for a bit. "Ok…but it'll be at a location I choose: the old school building at Kuoh Academy."

"The school Issei and you go to? Is it open on the weekends? Nevermind, I'm sure you have your reasons. Want your allies to keep an eye on an old man like me? Pretty smart for a youngster, so I'll play your game. See ya tomorrow. I have to finish dealing with Issei later today," With that, Jiraiya took his leave. A bewildered Koneko silently watched him disappear in a whirlwind of leaves.

* * *

Hours later after putting Issei through the gauntlet, Jiraiya let him return home to rest. Because he's meeting with Koneko, Jiraiya cancelled his rendezvous with Issei on Sunday. Late Saturday night, Jiraiya sat alone at a rundown ramen shop. Waiting for his order, he mused about the situation the young Koneko went through. The hardships because her own flesh and blood cursed her with were difficult for any child to endure. Remedying such a case will be difficult. After ten minutes past, the waitress served his meal. Before he could dig in, another presence made itself known.

"Geez, just when I was about to enjoy my first bowl of ramen. Couldn't you have come by after I finished eating?" Jiraiya groaned.

"Still enjoy ramen? Should I even ask the question?" Said person took the seat across from him. In this empty shop, they were the only customers.

"So, still tailing me, eh Ophis?" Jiraiya eyed the little gothic Lolita sitting across from him.

"I'm surprised you wear such a disguise. Why not show your true self, Naruto Uzumaki?"

* * *

At an undisclosed location, the direct descendant of the original Lucifer, Rizevim Livan Lucifer, sat bored at the world. He, one of the three super devils, had lost sight of himself and lived a rather unfulfilled life. A devil, with such a long life span, can often times lose their sense of purpose. However, a recent revelation came upon him. Euclid Lucifuge, the long lost younger brother of Grayfia Lucifuge, recently came into contact with a most interesting individual. Said individual was to arrive soon.

"So, you're an original Lucifer," A voice spoke from out of nowhere. Even Rizevim was startled. Something got the jump on him, and he didn't even feel a presence.

"Interesting, this is very interesting," A wicked smile spread across his face. "To think I, Rizevim Lucifer, would not detect your presence. You're no devil, fallen angel, angel, or any race I'm familiar with. _What are you_?"

"I'm just a lonely messenger carrying out my master's will," A shadowy, dark figure slithered out of the shadows from within Lucifer's chambers. This shadow had a humanoid body, but only half a head and one red eye. This red eye immediately grabbed Rizevim's attention. What kind of eye had concentric circles radiating from the pupil and magatama? "How about I tell you about a world outside the realm of the Gods?"

* * *

**A/N**: This is my first crossover story in a long time. Right now, I'm looking for a collaborator and a beta reader to work with. With my schedule, it will be nice to have another person to work out ideas and go over the story for structure, flow, and grammatical mistakes. I prefer someone who has read up to Volume 17 of the High School DxD light novels and up-to-date with the current events in the Naruto manga. If you're interested, you may leave a review or send a private message.

As for the story, it'll most likely not be a Naruto x Harem type story. There are already enough of those in the crossover section. Also, the direction of the story in later chapters probably prohibit it. I'm open to constructive criticism in reviews or pm's if you readers have ideas. In terms of strength, there should be enough hints as to where Naruto stands. However, this is my ranking:

God of the Bible

Kaguya Otsutsuki / Hagomoro + Hamura Otsutsuki - Great Red / 666 Trihexa

Ashura Naruto + Indra Sasuke - Ophis (complete)

Rikudo Madara / Six Paths Obito - Sirzechs Lucifer / Ajuka Beelzebub / Rizevim Rivan Lucifer

Rinnegan Madara - Former Devil Lords / Indra / Odin / Zeus

KLM-Sage Naruto / EMS Madara Uchiha / Harashima Senju - Archangel Michael / Serafall Sitri / Falbium Asmodeus / Azazel

Tobirama Senju / Hiruzen Sarutobi / Minato Namikaze - Sun Wukong

KCM Naruto / EMS Sasuke - Loki

Cardinal Crimson Promotion Issei and Emperieo Juggernaut Overdrive Vali, I don't know how to rank them. They have much more destructive power than Sun Wukong, but are easily defeated by the likes of Sun Wukong because they lack control and stamina to maintain their strongest abilities as of Volume 17. The evil dragons, I don't know where to rank them either because I don't know enough of them yet. Though, Crom Cruach was said to be on the level of heavenly dragons as of now.

It probably goes without saying that Kaguya, Hagomoro, and Hamura deserve to rank up with Great Red and 666 Trihexa. God of the Bible, even dead in High School DxD, sealed 666 Trihexa, so God ranks above them. God probably died due to fatigue after sealing 666 Trihexa, and the former devil lords finally killed God along with themselves. Ashura Naruto and Indra Sasuke, Naruto has more much more Sixth Paths Sage chakra and destructive techniques than Sasuke, but Perfect Susanoo, Rinnegan, and Instantaneous Switch helps rank Ashura Naruto and Indra Sasuke with Ophis. The last ones I think are ranked accordingly.

Again, constructive criticisms are welcomed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any part of Naruto franchise or High School DxD

Warning: Spoilers for High School DxD past Volume 4

Read, Review, and Enjoy

* * *

October 10th, five months ago…

At the Grigori Research Institute, fallen angel scientists scrambled due to an unexpected development. Alarm sirens rang off everywhere. Large energy readings in the dimensional gap overloaded all sensors and threw everyone into frenzy. Finally, Shemhazai, Vice Governor General of the fallen angels, stabilized visual connection with the dimensional gap, and what they saw was beyond anyone's imaginations. Great Red, the legendary and most powerful of all dragons, was thrown around like a rag doll.

Once other instruments came back online, better visual resolution confirmed other readings in the dimensional gap. The culprit appeared to be a pale-skin woman with extremely long, light colored hair, two protrusions sticking out from her forehead, and wore kimono detailed with intricate lines and tomoe running down the center and edges of her gown. Suddenly, someone else knocked away the woman. The new figure, with spiky blond hair, a high neck collar, flaming red-yellow robe tied with an obi around his waist, and nine magatama three-by-three markings on the kimono's back. Six black spheres hovered behind him like a halo, and his right hand held a staff.

For a fraction of a second, the two figures were visible, but in an instant, all monitors lost track of the two. The fallen angel scientists were only able to record clashes between the two. Each time the two made contact, the dimensional gap collapsed further. Great Red was not faring much better. The large dragon appeared to be fighting something invisible which even did not appear on any measuring instrument; yet whatever it was, it certainly put the Great Red on the ropes. It was apparent, however, that if this battle continued on without intervention, all known worlds, heaven, human, and the underworld were in grave peril.

"Someone contact Sirzechs and Michael!" Shemhazai ordered. "Where the hell is Azazel?!"

"Sir! We have made contact with both the Devil Lord and Seraph!" Penemue, Chief Secretary, shortly established connection to the other two factions. Though, most likely the other two had the same idea as the fallen angels. Two magical circles appeared before Shemhazai and projected holograms of Michael and Sirzechs.

"I can't say this is a good welcome since the world as we know may be coming to an end," Sirzechs Gremory, titled Lucifer, greeted grimly.

"The angels in heaven are keeping the dimensional barrier between worlds stabilized, but if this continues any further, the human world will surely get drawn into this as well," Michael, archangel and leader of the Seraph, reported.

"You have our full support. The Grigori Institute will aid in your endeavor," Shemhazai immediately announced.

"We, devils, will assist as well," Sirzechs chimed in. "To think such an event was necessary to join the three great powers together, even temporarily. The last time this happened was when the two heavenly dragons clashed. Though, this event is far beyond that fight."

"Without God or the former four Satan Lords, I don't think sending the armies of all three great powers will make a difference," Michael solemnly concluded. "All we can do is hope that we can contain the fallout, whatever that may be."

Suddenly, a major event turned the tide of the battle. As all three leaders witnessed, Great Red shrunk down and enveloped one of the figures in red armor. The dragon transformed into armor and combined with the fiery, blond entity. As seen in the past, sacred gears made from dragons had Scale-mail Balance Breakers. Whatever the reason for such a combination may be, it certainly turned the battle against the female entity. The now armored, dragon warrior, with a single stroke of his staff, launched a powerful wave radiating from him. The invisible entities dispersed from that single stroke of his staff. Even the woman was shocked at his power.

The armored warrior formed an unusual symbol with his hands. Out of nowhere, an entire army of dragon warriors exploded into existence. This seemingly simple act instilled great dread into the three leaders. If one, unknown individual can easily become an army comparable to the full strength of any of the three powers, the very balance of their entire world could shift. Yet, they were unable to stop him if the situation were to arise.

Acting as one, the army charged straight at their single opponent. In response, she spun clockwise at incalculable speeds which knocked a large number away. While spinning, she released innumerable spears which appeared to be made of bone precisely at her targets. A large smoke cloud ensued as many fell to the attack. However, using the smoke as cover, the remaining ones threw black spears right at the epicenter. Once again, she was forced to spin, but instead of bone, she unleashed wave after wave of refined wind that sliced through the army.

As the conflict dragged on, the further the dimensional barrier fell. Various colors spewed from each collision as if a supernova just exploded. The ground and rocks broke apart and floated within the vast "nothingness." The barrier separating heaven and hell fragmented and hovered in space as the two continued their extraordinary clash. Angels, fallen angels, and devils clamored to maintain any sort of stability under the given circumstances.

In what appeared to be another strategy, the remains of the army spewed pink liquid right at the spinning sphere. Although the air blades sliced through the liquid, they did not change its chemical composition. Slowly the liquid coagulated into a sticky substance and swirled with the sphere. Surely, the liquid suppressed her movement and paralyzed her. However, the liquid quickly was sucked into her as if via absorption. Holding up her right hand, an unseen force radiated outwards and knocked out the rest of the army.

From the smoke came an enormous lava ball. Instead of absorbing it, she evaded the incoming ball of molten rock. It collided with the dimensional barrier and broke through. The underworld's sky lit up in brilliant flames. Sirzech's connection with the fallen angels shortly cut off before reestablishing the link.

Instantaneous movement allowed the female to dodge that city-wide fire ball, but led right into another trap. Meeting her were two more armored warriors. The lava ball was a distraction to replenish that army. In response, the female threw up both palms, one facing each of the two. The same unseen force as before blew everyone away.

Reading their graphs and instruments, the fallen angels at the Grigori Institute discovered that the culprit was gravity. She had control over gravity itself. No known sacred gear possessed such ability!

The trap was a cover for an even more elaborate trap. When the army burst, instead of smoke, the armored soldiers erupted in orange-yellow glitter. The sparkles illuminated intensely and blinded not only the spectators, but the opposing female as well. After the light show faded, the visible portion of the dimensional gap was clouded with some type of gas. According to the instruments, the fallen angel scientists concluded it was water vapor, steam. However, this steam was not ordinary; it fried all sensors. It was to hinder the enemy's sensing abilities and restrict her movements! Whoever this warrior was, his cunning mind came up with so many varying strategies to throw the opponent off guard! If he were to battle against any of the great mythological powers with his strength and techniques…

Soon, the female dispersed the steam with her gravity technique. However, once the vapors went away, small animal-shaped, fiery blue creatures pounced on her. Each clawed, scratched, nipped, bit, and slashed at her body. Though the attacks seemed to be in vain due to her impressive regeneration, strange letters and markings appeared all over her body. Quickly, the markings spread all over. If anything, the symbols looked very similar to oriental characters, but different at the same time. The effect was instantaneous: she was restricted. The Grigori Institute deduced it was a seal, similar to magical seals magicians used. Unlike demonic energy and techniques, magic was formulaic and full of equations.

Sensors suddenly went off and even overloaded. Something was building massive energy. Looking through visuals, they noticed the armored warrior had two balls of energy in his hand: the left hand entirely covered with purple lightning, and the right holding a tan sphere with unusual black markings. In an instant, he was upon the female and smashed the two objects into her. Screaming from what appeared to be excruciating pain, she was engulfed by the black markings until they enveloped her entire body.

The man crushed her sealed body into a tiny sphere. With a clap of his hands and charging stance, he yelled at the top of his lungs. Large chunks of debris, rocks, and fragments from the barrier broke off and congregated around the sphere. Slowly, they coalesced into an ever-growing spherical rock. The Fallen Angels, Devils, and Angels stood in awe as the rock grew to monstrous proportions, as if a small planet was to be born.

However, the growing mass cracked. Ten arm-like appendages broke out of the rocky prison, and soon after, a weird, deformed head emerged. Its deafening roar shattered decibel meters at the Grigori Institute. The Cyclops-like humanoid creature of titanic proportions freed itself from the seals and cage. In size comparison, it made even Great Red seem tiny. Large, spiky protrusions jutting out from its head, one mouth, ear, and a single, red eye with concentric rings radiating from the pupil and tomoe, the monstrosity lunged at the much smaller armored warrior.

Instead of evading the enormous creature, he charged head on and punched the monster's face. The force actually flipped it onto its back, and the resulting impact further broke the dimensional barrier. Even the spectators felt the landing. Its ten arm-like appendages morphed into dragon-shaped heads, and each one started charging enormous black spheres. All ten locked onto their target. The armored one used the six spheres hovering behind him to form an enormous shield.

Ten immense black beams collided with the shield and exploded upon impact. Readings indicated the blast had enough force to take out a chunk of Eurasia! Suddenly, out of the smoke, Great Red, no longer in armor form, attacked the twelve-armed creature. An all out monster brawl ensured where the two traded enormous energy blasts and melee attacks. Any stray shots broke through the barrier and blasted heaven and hell. Michael, Sirzechs, and Shemhazai felt their world under siege from these attacks.

Though Great Red was much smaller, its speed allowed it race around the monster's torso and incinerate the one-eyed creature's hide. In response, the one-eyed monstrosity shed any brunt skin and immediately regenerated the missing flesh. Then, numerous hands erupting from the monster's skin constricted Great Red's limbs, body, wings, and month. Unable to move or launch an attack, the red dragon was a sitting duck as the twelve-armed monster charged a large black sphere aimed straight at him. Ten unarmored blond warriors cut through the limbs and knocked the grotesque creature off its feet.

The blond warrior landed on Great Red's head. A bright yellow light enveloped Great Red. One scaly, dragon tail split into nine, free-flowing yellow tails. The light covered the dragon's entire body, but then a purple, ethereal light erupted from the yellow and formed another layer on top. This purple substance took shape, and this time, the dragon was wearing a Japanese samurai-stylized armor. The newly-formed armor added three pairs of arms onto the armless dragon and additional masks adorning each cheek. In one of its left hands held a giant black, double helix sword, and in a right hand held an enormous shield. Regenerating its limbs, the other creature stood up and stared down with its singular red eye at the newly armored dragon.

Simultaneously roaring at one another, the two charged head on. Five hands morphed into dragon heads again and fired every element, fire, water, wind, earth, and lightning, in concentrated beams. Great Red protected itself with the new shield and tackled the twelve-armed creature to the ground. With a powerful gravitational repulsion, the ten-tailed monster blew away the dragon. Regaining its footing, the dragon fired an enormous fire ball, one larger than the lava ball earlier. The ten appendages wrapped around and shielded the main body from the brunt of the attack.

While the battle ensued, the three great powers watched on as an event of biblical proportions, equal to that described in the Book of Revelations, played out. The barrier was not lasting well, and if the fighting lasted any longer, the human world would surely get drawn into it. Each power was using all their resources just to hold up the barrier.

Building upon momentum, armored Great Red rushed in once more. Inside those nine tails, spiraling spheres formed that lead the charge; the spheres made contact and cracked a small opening in the twelve-armed creature's defense. Piercing through the armed defense, Great Red rammed the double-helix sword straight through its chest and emerged out the other end. The nine tails seemed to connect to the creature's innards and began pulled. The blonde one leapt off Great Red and landed on the other beast. Holding a ball of yellow energy in his right and a purple ball in his left, he slammed the two into the twelve-armed monster's head.

Suddenly, the creature underwent a dramatic change: it shrunk drastically, shriveled until it was like a skeleton, and the gigantic red eye closed. What replaced it was an earthen-colored humanoid statue with a blindfold wrapped around its eyes. Its back had spike-like protrusions where its ten arms once were, and hand cuffs bound its wrists and ankles.

Clapping his hands once more, the blond one attempted to seal off the creature again. The fallen debris, rock, and barrier fragments quickly congealed together and formed an even larger ball to imprison the humanoid statue. Black markings ran across the entire sphere and completed the seal. Just as how suddenly the fight began, it came to an abrupt end. A giant, perfectly spherical rock hung menacingly in the collapsing dimensional gap. Wobbling, the victor passed out immediately. Great Red, with its head, caught the unconscious individual as the warrior's power faded away.

"All units continue to stabilize the dimension," Shemhazai ordered. "I'm going to retrieve that being myself." The Vice Governor General of the Fallen Angels immediately cut communications with the angels and devils as soon as the battle was over. He would bet anything that the other two powers had the same idea as he. If that being, greater than the gods themselves, really died, then whatever information the body could gleam would be a gold mine. Shemhazai had to work fast and discreetly since the True Dragon, Great Red, held his body.

The vice governor general opened a gate to the dimensional gap. He'll have to be quick because even he will succumb to the "nothingness" inside the gap. Once inside, he traced angel and devil signals; his intuition was correct, so he had to hasten his mission. Where was the Governor General of the Fallen Angels when you needed him? However, by the time, Gabriel and Grayfia, the representatives Angels and Devils respectively, and he arrived, another figure intervened.

She was a small human child wearing gothic Lolita style attire. Simply covering he chest with two x-shaped black markings over her nipples, long black hair reaching down to her hips and gray irises, skin pale as the moon, cold gray eyes, the little girl levitated the unconscious man's body. Great Red allowing the little girl to come close and retrieve the body surprised all three powers. The initial plan for each of the great powers was to observe Great Red's actions and see if any one of them could retrieve the body for their own side to study. The appearance of this child completely changed everything. Just as quickly as she appeared, she disappeared with the body.

* * *

Three Months Later…

The older, gray-haired man sat across the table from a little girl wearing gothic Lolita clothing. Great, just as oblivious as usual, she blew his cover. Luckily, the store owner was the only other occupant in this rundown ramen shop and not paying them any attention. Instead, he was preparing to close up shop. Food slowly growing cold, he decided to continue the conversation.

"So, still tailing me, eh Ophis?" Naruto, under the guise of Jiraiya, groaned a bit. He really wanted to eat.

"I, am surprised you wear such a disguise. You, show your true self, Naruto Uzumaki," The little girl revealed as Ophis, the Infinite Dragon God, ordered. As though like an innocent doll, Ophis stared at him as if he were going to concede to her whim.

"Man, still treating me like some kind of pet. I know I have whisker birthmarks, but I'm not some stray dog you picked up off the street! I'd rather play catch," Naruto admonished critically. Still transformed as his former, deceased master, Naruto quickly downed the ramen before ordering one bowl and sweetened iced tea for his visitor, and a second for himself.

"Catch; I, would like that," Ophis commented. "I, want to kill Great Red more." Though indescribably smaller, there was a small light shining her dull eyes.

"Yes, yes, I know," Naruto sighed. Yet again, like a child, Ophis made her point known that she wanted to go home and obtain silence. Still unable to get through her thick skull, he scratched the back of his head. "Unfortunately, I can't agree to that request. Great Red is doing something very, very important for me. Killing him is not in my best interest."

"You and I, we can defeat Great Red," Ophis continued on nonchalantly. At least she was consistent. Naruto had not seen the Infinite Dragon God's true form or power, but from what he'd heard, this little girl could give the Sage of Six Paths, Hagomoro Otsutsuki, a run for his money.

The new orders arrived in a timely fashion. This is the first ramen restaurant since Naruto had been in Japan. Two days ago, Thursday, Naruto just arrived in Japan, and his time with Issei deprived him of ramen. To fulfill his addiction, he will binge on ramen until his stomach could no longer hold anymore. Tomorrow, this store will be devoid of ramen. Ophis, whose ramen and sweetened ice tea were set before her, silently ate her meal. Even though she could be rudely truthful at times, at least she had table manners. After finishing the salty noodle soup, Ophis quietly drank her sweetened iced tea through a straw. Naruto remembered that she really liked sweets.

"Look, it's getting late, and I want some shut eye. I don't think you'll go back to them any time soon. I'll let you stay for a bit," Naruto motioned Ophis to follow him. If she hadn't shown up, he would have eaten this shop clean of ramen, but as the responsible "adult," he had to make sure this "kid" got a good night's rest.

Walking through the park side-by-side, Naruto and Ophis silently headed to wherever Naruto stayed in Japan. Under the moonlight, the trees cast an eerie shadow on the concrete path. Looking at the little girl next to him, Naruto wondered what was he going to do with a Dragon God? He left her with his first assistant the last time and hoped that she would have hidden herself forever, but apparently her drive to oust Great Red led her here. For now, he was tired and wanted rest. They arrived at an old apartment complex in the inner city. The close proximity of neighboring buildings reminded Naruto of home. Going up the stairs, Naruto led Ophis to his apartment. Much like his old one, it had a terrace from which he could look out and see the city. Inside, the studio was more western than Japanese. A single bed, small kitchen, bathroom, closet, Naruto had yet to furnish the room with other commodities such as cupboards full of instant cup-of-noodles.

"I'm going to take a bath. You can hang around and do what you want," Naruto stretched before going into the bathroom. Ophis, not wearing footwear, walked in barefoot.

She looked at the rather empty room. The only place to sit was the bed, so she took a seat. It was no different than her room, blank walls and a single stool upon she sat, back with the Chaos Brigade. With their promise of Great Red's death, she granted brigade members' wishes with her snakes and sat alone in the room until that fateful day. October 10th, she found an entity which had the capacity to defeat Great Red. Taking her chances, she went into the dimensional gap to retrieve the person. Great Red did not seem to care all that much. While she reminisced, the blonde had removed the transformation and came out of the bathroom with regular clothing. Instead of the usual jumpsuit, Naruto wore an orange, sleeveless plain jersey, black short-sleeved undershirt, orange sweats, and slippers.

"I should really thank my last assistant," Naruto commented while drying his blonde, spiky hair with a towel. "She really knew how to make the most of a sale. I guess that's why she's the '99¢ Valkyrie!'" Naruto smiled. Even with the income and royalties from _Make-Out Paradise_, the book was still only a month old. Much like home, sometimes it was tough to make ends meet. If Naruto hadn't met his assistant, he probably would be destitute, more so than he is now. The blonde adolescent looked over to the small Lolita seating on his bed. Like always, the great dragon god was quiet as a mouse.

"Here," Naruto made a Rasengan, "you wanted to play 'catch' right?" He tossed the spiraling sphere to the little girl. Like several times they've done in the past, the two tossed the sphere back and forth to each other. Strange how something so simple could be so gratifying for a dragon god? Until out of nowhere, Ophis threw the Rasengan out the window.

"Why did you do that!?" Naruto accusingly pointed his finger at the gothic Lolita.

"I, grew bored of 'catch.' You, go 'fetch,'" Ophis obliviously replied. Her unemotional face belied the fact that she found nothing wrong with what she just did. He was her pet, and pets go 'fetch.'

"I'm not your freakin' pet!" Naruto reiterated once again, but the message seemed to never register with Ophis. The lights went out suddenly, and a loud explosion shortly followed the Rasengan's toss out the window.

"…shit," Naruto cussed. Peeping out the window, he saw the destruction his Rasengan caused. The force knocked a car into a line of parked cars which crashed into an electrical pole and knocked out power for the entire block! Hopefully no one got hurt.

"We saw and did nothing, got it?" Naruto whispered to Ophis nodding. "Alright then, since you 'obviously' did not throw that out the window and took out the power, it's time to get some sleep," Naruto yawned. He then realized that there was only one bed and two people. Scratching his head, he decided to let the little dragon god sleep on the bed. He slept on dirt in the past. A hard wooden floor would be no different.

"Good night," Naruto lay down on his side while Ophis rested on his bed. She was indifferent to human sexuality, but Naruto knew that it was improper to sleep with a girl, dragon god, thing in the same bed when they were in nothing more than a platonic relationship.

The next morning, Sunday, Naruto woke up to Ophis staring at him from his bed. She calling him her pet was ironic; she's more of a cat waiting for the master to wake up and feed her. Today, he was supposed to meet Koneko at the old school building at Kuoh Academy. He did cancel on Issei, but last minute, he decided to put Issei on an assignment. He'll leave him to Sakura. Now, the first issue, what was he supposed to do with Ophis?

* * *

Koneko Tojo waited patiently for the so-called sage at the designated location. Much like Naruto deduced yesterday, she chose this location because Rias and her fellow peerage members were close at hand. She did not know much of Jiraiya, but she must take a chance, for her sister and her sake. This senjutsu trauma had plagued her for too long. Rias, Akeno, and Yuuto looked out from the club room window while Koneko waited at the front door.

"Yo!" Koneko immediately recognized the voice. She saw the older man walking down the path towards the old building. "You know, you could've given me directions or something. Instead, I had to sense your energies to find my way here. That includes your friends up there," Naruto, wearing Jiraiya's face once again, looked up and waved at a particular window. Koneko realized that he was the real deal right there. Only a senjutsu user could have so accurately pointed out the clubroom's window.

"I understand your friends' concerns. I'm just an old guy looking for some young girls, but believe me, I know the consequences and hardships facing those who fail at the sage arts," Naruto seriously explained with his arms crossed. Senjutsu was not something to mess with where turning into a frog statue was only one possible outcome. "It's your choice. You led me here. Where shall we train?"

"Track field," Koneko answered emotionlessly. The two made their way to the quarter mile elliptical track field. On the way, neither of the two talked to one another. He could feel her analytical, vigilant eyes glancing at him from time to time. Naruto also knew Koneko's allies were going to tail them. He'll have to do something about that.

"Alright, here," Naruto stretched. Before them was a typical high school track field. The running track wrapped around the central, artificial turf field. The deceptively older-looking man, with the adolescent following close behind, sat right in the middle of the fake grassy field. "First, I'll review what exactly senjutsu is. Though, it seems you have experience in this matter. Normally, your life energy is produced from your internal spiritual and physical energies. That is chakra. With senjutsu, you take that internal chakra and augment it with the energy surrounding you, natural energy. With it, you create a much more powerful chakra."

"How do you overcome the malice that's absorbed with natural energy?" Koneko, sitting in a meditative stance as well, went straight to her point. She stared hard at him with her golden eyes. Naruto had to admit, she had a good poker face, but it was only a mask for pain he could see past those eyes.

"I was getting to that. It's true that collecting the natural energy around you will also contain the 'feelings' nature encapsulates. Nature's anger that you absorb also fuses with your subconscious anger and forces it to the surface, much like the chakra aspect. The way to control this is to mediate how much natural energy you take and release. I don't know 'who' or 'what' caused your incident with senjutsu, but for the previous user to take in so much natural energy at one time, then the situation must have been dire. You have to 'look underneath the underneath.' That's the first step towards mastering the sage arts," Naruto lectured while holding up a finger as if he was pointing to notes written on a black board. In truth, he did know who caused Koneko's despair, but at this moment, he could not let that be known. In order to continue on with this training, Koneko needed a calm, empty mind.

Koneko looked down once Naruto indirectly mentioned her sister. "Look underneath the underneath?" What does that mean? Wasn't it her sister who killed their last devil master and abandoned her, right? Was there something she had overlooked? At such a young age back then, there may have been something she couldn't understand or clearly remember. That's why she's trying to understand the sage arts. Something drove her sister to go drunk off natural energy, and mastering that energy was the first step in understanding her past.

"The first step to make yourself 'one' with natural energy is to sense and draw it into your body. Once you make it a part of yourself, you can control its flow in and out of your body. Moving around disturbs the flow of natural energy. All living things mess up the flow without even knowing it. You have to remain completely still to feel nature's flow. If I had to guess, I think you've already past this first step." Naruto continued on with his lecture. Koneko nodded in response. It's true that she's able to intake natural energy, but she cannot control or mold it all too well.

"Now, the problem I think is that you cannot handle the flow coming and going from your body. When I first learned senjutsu, I already knew how to mold chakra, so controlling sage chakra was not that much of a problem. My problem was feeling the flow of natural energy and making it flow into my body. You're the opposite of me. You can feel the flow of natural energy, but can't control how much you take and let go. All three energies, spiritual, physical, and natural, must be in balance with one another to get around that stuff. Try taking in natural energy," Naruto asked the little girl. Without breaking his meditative stance, he stared intensely at the little girl to make sure nothing went astray. He didn't want to explain to Ophis why he had an animal statue at home or Ophis break it out of sheer obliviousness.

To his request, Koneko sat motionlessly and meditated. Over a few minutes, the still Koneko started to show strained facial expressions. Abruptly, two feline ears popped out of her head and a furry tail wriggled out of her back. However, a dark, menacing aura began to emanate from her. Once Naruto noticed the effects, he immediately knocked Koneko out of mediation with a simple flick of his index finger to the forehead. Groaning in pain, Koneko held the bruise on her forehead.

"As I thought, you can't balance the three energies in your body," Naruto diagnosed as if he was a doctor with a sick patient. So, the effects were individually based; he turned into a frog while, Kabuto turned into a dragonic snake, and Koneko turned into a cat. (What he was unaware of is that Koneko is a yokai.) Rubbing his chin, he had an idea. "When I learned sage arts, my master knocked me with his stick whenever I overshot the mark. Man, did that stick hurt," Naruto commented while rubbing his head. He was pretty sure Fukasaku had too much fun whacking him over the head with that stick. "I'll help you mediate how much natural energy you intake. Connect your fist with mine," Naruto held out right fist.

Koneko reached out her tiny hand in comparison to that of Naruto. Once their fists connected, Koneko returned to her mediation. Like before, cat-like characteristics appeared on her head and back. However, Koneko noticed excess energy not flowing into her, but drawn through her right fist to his body. Shortly, he broke the connection. When he did, Koneko stopped drawing upon nature and woke up from her meditation. Her body felt different. While the physical change in her body appeared as expected, there was no malice or dementia. Embarrassed, she covered her ears with her hands and white hair, and withdrew her tail. Across from her, she noticed the physical changes Naruto underwent: red pigmentation surrounded his eyes, his irises turned yellow in color, and his rectangular pupils. If anything, the characteristics reminded her of an amphibian.

"I took the extra natural energy from your body. Now, a reason I think is that you don't have enough chakra or the body size to control natural energy. Unlike other girls your age, your body is kind of immature. It's going to be hard for your body to maintain natural energy. You don't have enough chakra to control natural energy. You need to train more. With the body thing, I think that the fact you're not a human can help. Yeah, when our energies connected, I felt the difference. I don't know what you are, but if you're not human, your body may be able to get around the size issue," Naruto recommended while remaining in his meditative stance. His revelation shocked Koneko. He not only figured out her issues, but also noticed that she's not human. Though it appeared he did not know what exactly she was, the fact that he realized it immediately only proved senjutsu's versatility. Even though he knew she's not human, Koneko felt no prejudice or hostility from him. More correct to say, she felt nothing around him, as if he was the air.

"Train some more to increase your chakra levels. Find me after that. We can continue with sage training. There's one more thing. Sage art is a sacred tradition from where I come from and can't freely give out the information. I don't want your friends spying on me from now on. If you don't agree with these conditions, I won't finish your sage training," Naruto sternly warned. The emptiness surrounding him suddenly felt like a heavy weight dropping down on her entire body. To this, Koneko extended her sensing range.

"Where are my friends?" Koneko stood up from her meditative stance and took a fighting stance. If she had to, she would fight him here.

"I said it before: I can't give out the secrets of senjutsu so easily. My friend took care of them back at the old academy building. Don't worry, they are sleeping safe and sound," Naruto explained calmly. Unable to trust him, Koneko remained in her fighting stance with her left fist ahead, right fist guarding her chest, and a square base to maintain balance. "That'll be enough for today. Too much sage training will strain your small body. Get some rest. Come and find me again after you increased your chakra," And with that said, Naruto stood up and disappeared with a whirl of leaves right before Koneko's eyes.

* * *

Quickly rushing back to the occult research clubroom while expending the extra boost from senjutsu, Koneko flew over the empty school grounds and entered through the open window. Using up her senjutsu, her cat ears and tail disappeared. Inside, she found Rias, Akeno, and Yuuto asleep on the couches. There was no evidence of battle or resistance. Whoever did this was quick as an assassin; all three could have died. Thankfully, this person killed no one. Illusion? Genjutsu? Koneko shook her master awake.

"Koneko?" Rias slowly stirred awake. Sitting at the head desk, Rias stretched her sore body. "What happened? Where am I?"

"I'll explain everything later," Koneko answered and went to wake up the others.

Soon with everyone awake, the young cat retold the group about Jiraiya and his potential threat. The entire room was silent. The House of Gremory's heiress and next in line to succeed the head of the household, Rias, could have died due to their carelessness and lack of information. A war could have broken out over her death; Sirzechs would definitely look for revenge against whoever killed her. Though, Koneko benefitted from this encounter with Naruto. However, was it worth the risk?

"My, oh my, this is very serious," Akeno broke the silence while she sat on the couch right of the table in the center of the room. "These three certainly are a problem. They could kill us at any moment. Unless Jiraiya can be in two places at once, either Sasuke or Sakura placed a stronger illusion on us. We would have forgotten why we were at school today if Koneko didn't explain what happened."

"However, they didn't kill us or wipe out Koneko's memories," Rias added from the front desk of the occult research clubroom. "I don't know how to explain their actions. Koneko, is there anything else you can tell us?" The king asked her servant while Akeno decided to prepare tea to calm everyone's nerves.

"I don't know if I can," Koneko hung her head low and sunk into the cushion opposite of Rias and across the table. "He warned you all that if any of you continued to spy on him, he'll stop training me in sage arts." There are two options: let Koneko continue sage training and no longer interfere with Jiraiya's plans, or spy on those three, but lose her training. For Koneko, there may never be another chance to learn senjutsu, but is it worth her friends' lives?

"Koneko, I advise you don't meet that man again," Yuuto Kiba, standing next to Ria's desk, input his opinion. With his past, he certainly knew the dangers of men with hidden agendas. Koneko looked up at her brother figure. "That man may be using you to get closer to Rias. He already planted two spies into our school. If either Uchiha or Haruno had the ability to trap us in such an illusion, we wouldn't suspect a thing from them."

"This is my fault," Koneko brought her legs up to her chest, wrapped her arms around, and sunk her head down. "If I had been stronger and use senjutsu on my own, then she and you all would not be in this situation,"

"There, there, don't beat yourself up," Rias sat next to her rook and hugged her tightly against her body. She hadn't seen Koneko so weak and frail since those days after her brother saved Koneko from her fate. "We'll figure this out."

"I need to face this on my own," Koneko gently separated herself from her king and stood up. "I need to see him face-to-face and ask why he agreed to train me. If he doesn't answer, I'll reject his training from then on," Though not on her face, Koneko's determination was felt by everyone in the room.

"Ok, I trust your judgment," Rias Gremory smiled; not often Koneko stood up for herself in such a manner. "What kind of master am I if I don't have faith in my servants?" The red-head rubbed her rook's little head. "In a rating game or real life, the king needs to take a gamble and trust her pieces."

* * *

The same day, while Naruto dealt with Koneko, he issued an assignment for Issei Hyodo. Without knowing what the assignment was, Issei followed directions and waited at a clock tower downtown. Apparently, Jiraiya's associate was supposed to meet him here. Suddenly, a pink-haired beauty approached him. Sure, this woman was in Koneko's league in terms of bust size, but what she lacked up top, she made up down below. Those shapely, athletic legs, not too big, but not too skinny, fit nicely in those form-fitting jeans that hugged her tight hips. She wore red tennis shoes, a pink tank-top and breezy red jacket to go along with those jeans. Issei then remembered her conspicuous pink hair.

"Aren't you the new girl who sits behind me in homeroom?" Issei asked.

"Yeah, Sakura Haruno, pleased to make your acquaintance," Sakura shook his hand. Issei noticed how firm and strong her grip was. Pulling back, he shook his circulation-deprived hand. "That damn Jiraiya asked me for a favor. I bet anything that man is lollygagging somewhere and doing 'research,'" Sakura held up a folded fist to demonstrate her frustration.

"Um…" Issei took a slight step back from the dangerous, dark aura surrounding the pink-head. "So, what did Jiraiya want me to do?"

"Well, follow me. I'll explain along the way," Sakura motioned to the brown-hair teenager. He wanted them to go volunteer? Actually, Sakura was going to orientation by herself, but Naruto decided to tack Issei on since Jiraiya bailed on him last minute. Walking for fifteen minutes, they arrived at a soup kitchen? The line was really long just for food. He hadn't realized this many people needed food assistance. He saw many homeless men, women, children, and elderly who probably have been in line since early this morning. The two went inside for orientation.

After an hour long, boring, and tedious information session and complementary video, Sakura and Issei finally geared up with hair nets, aprons, and gloves. The two were ordered to serve food and wait at tables. When they arrived at the cafeteria, Issei was completely shocked at the numbers eating this packaged, processed food that may be their only meal of the day. It really hit home how fortunate he was. Unable to dwell on his lucky birth, Issei was handed a dish by Sakura to serve an elderly lady sitting in a wheelchair. As Issei found out, this lady lived on the streets. Immigrating to Japan at a young age, she was unmarried her entire life, and because of this, employers saw her unmarried status as a stigma. She had been in and out of low paying jobs until she grew too old to work. All she had to her name were the few plastic bags carrying precious possessions and her wheel chair.

"Stop standing there dumbfounded. Serve the next table," Sakura prodded the young teenager with another plate. This time, it was to a former war veteran. He survived World War II, but traumatized at what he had done in the past. Hunched over the table, the tattered man stared into empty space without any life in his eyes.

"From what I heard, that guy was a soldier who participated in the 'Rape of Nanking,'" Sakura added. "That other lady over there was a survivor of that atrocious event. Our history course just started going over WWII, but did you read anything about the 'Rape of Nanking?'"

"No, but if there was anything, I don't remember," Issei guiltily admitted. He was never a diligent student since elementary school.

"Well, that's because we haven't gotten to it yet, but I studied ahead of the assigned chapters. There was a single paragraph barely describing the event," Sakura said disgusted.

"What exactly was the 'Rape of Nanking?'" Issei asked. Truth be told, he didn't really care about Japan's history, or anyone else besides him as a matter of fact. Hell, today was the first time he realized there were so many in poverty and homeless right in his neighborhood, and never paid them any attention. All he cared about, before meeting Jiraiya, were beasts and women.

"A shameful, disgraceful mark on Japanese history, the Nanking Massacre, or Rape of Nanking, was an episode of mass murder and rape. Japanese troops captured Nanking, which was the Chinese capital back then. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese, civilians and disarmed combatants, were murdered and raped. The city was completely left in shambles," Sakura shook her head as she short-handed the information. Even here, war was everywhere, in the past, present, and foreseeable future.

"Then why is there so little information about it?" Issei, so-called righteous hot-blooded fury boiling inside, demanded.

"Because Japanese nationalists in the government want to promote a revisionist history, even though the common consensus amongst the public is that it really occurred and just as horribly as past veterans described," Sakura answered grimly.

"In order to protect their national interests, politicians in the Japanese government want to influence new generations of Japanese children. Nationalists, though a minority, have a say in the government and want to erase Japan's dark past through propaganda and manipulation of recorded history. However, look at those two," Sakura pointed out once again the lady survivor of the Rape of Nanking, and the male war veteran of the Rape of Nanking.

"See their pain? Jiraiya wanted you to see the hardships other people go through and to empathize with them. The anger you may be feeling right now, if you let it fester and eat away at you, that anger will turn to hatred. Where will you direct your hatred? At the government? At war veterans? At the entire world? Where will it end? You do something unforgivable out of hatred, others will come at you in vengeance," Sakura dealt a rude awakening at the naïve Issei. In her mind, she recalled a red-haired, frail man who once brought her home to its knees.

She was right; the longer she talked, the angrier Issei felt. He wanted to take out his anger on the elderly war veteran for the sake and justice of the old lady who survived the Rape of Nanking. Unable to stand anymore, Issei took a seat. Sakura sat next to him.

"Someone very close to me, a sibling student under Jiraiya, once said, 'we are just ordinary people driven to seek vengeance in the name of justice, and if one was to call vengeance justice, such justice will only breed further revenge, and trigger a vicious cycle of hatred. Right now, we live in such a cycle. I know the past and can foretell our future. It is the same as our history, so we believe that human beings can simply never understand each other, and never will. This world of ours is ruled by hatred, and hatred alone," Sakura closed her eyes as she finished her speech.

Issei, awestruck, had no words to say. Whoever this person was, he must have had been through all nine levels of hell to believe in such ideology. The vengeance Issei sought against the war veteran for the old lady's justice that will only breed more vengeance in the name of justice. Thus, continuing this vicious cycle of hatred. Issei clenched his eyes, griped his fists, and grit his teeth. Is this really what humanity is? What kind of society was Jiraiya trying to prepare him for? He's never felt so confused and emotional ever in his life so far. Then, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Jiraiya wanted to lend this to you," Sakura handed him a book before returning to her volunteer duties. "Return it to him when you're finished. That's his only copy."

"_Tales of a Gutsy Ninja_?"

* * *

**A/N**: That's chapter two. Thanks to my beta reader for correcting character traits, grammar, and story flow and structure. I thank those who read and reviewed this story so far.

Again, reviews and constructive criticisms are welcomed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any part of Naruto franchise or High School DxD

Warning: Spoilers for High School DxD past Volume 4

Read, Review, and Enjoy

* * *

_Clank…clank_

_Metal collided with metal repeatedly. In a hole amongst the canopy of a desolate forest, bright sunlight shone through to the branches below. Two combatants hid amongst the trees and branches to find an opening in the opponent's defense. Hit and run, the two continued their clash until they were at the point of exhaustion. A dark-haired warrior, wearing a bandana with a metal plate engraved with question mark, panted as he used a tree for support. Dirt and scratches littered his upper torso, forest green body armor and navy blue undershirt and pants. His target, a red-haired man hid in the shadows of a large tree. Also tired, he wore a high-neck collar, black trench coat. _

"_You ready to give up yet? I'm starting to tire of our game of tag," The dark-haired shinobi taunted his hidden foe. They had been fighting for hours on end, and now, are at their limits. The red-haired ninja pulled out a few wrapped balls tucked away in his coat. He threw them at his opponent._

"_A smoke bomb?"The opposing shinobi covered his face as the pellets thrown at him exploded into blinding smoke and dust. Amidst the smoke cover, the two warriors fought for their nations and beliefs on the line. Metal gnashed against metal several times until the sounds stopped. When the debris and smoke cleared, the dark-haired ninja stood over the red-haired shinobi._

"_Just give up," The opposing ninja held a sharp kunai above the red-haired one._

"_Can I…" The red-head slowly picked himself up to one knee, "…just say one thing?" He panted heavily from their unfinished bout. _

"_I don't want to hear it!"The other ninja, with his kunai, stabbed him in the stomach and threw his limp body against the tree trunk. "Just give up now."_

"_Heh, you give up…" The red head, blood as red as his hair dripping from his mouth, smirked. With a poof of smoke, he was gone. Surprised, the opposing shinobi felt a presence behind him. "…on trying to make me give up!"With a swift chop to the base of the neck, the red-haired ninja knocked his opponent into the tree trunk and finally brought him down. However, while prone facedown, he chuckled ominously._

"_Even if you do take me down, another assassin will attack the village. As long as we are cursed to live in this world of shinobi, then there cannot be any peace, ever!"The down ninja gloated. He wasn't the first or will be the last to attack this unnamed village. Looking up at the red head, he saw not despair, but determination. _

"_Well, I'm going to break that curse one day. If there is such a thing as peace, then somehow, I'm going to find it! And I'll never stop looking!"The red-haired shinobi declared from the bottom of his heart. He truly believed in his quest and will make it happen someday. _

"_Who…who are you?"_

"_My name is…"_

"_My name is…"_

* * *

Four and half months ago…

Naruto lay on a blank white bed in an empty room. All four sides, solid concrete, produced as sense of solitude. Probing his surroundings with what little chakra he had, he noticed his eyes were wrapped, and his left arm was completely numb. Everything was black. Needles, connected to IV bags, injected various nutrients and fluids into him; it felt like he was in a hospital. When he tried to shift his body, he felt a weight lying on top of him. Whatever it was, it felt soft, warm, and smooth against his bare torso. Wait, when did he lose his shirt? Unable to contain his distress, Naruto wriggled underneath the weight. The unknown mass shifted until Naruto felt all of it upon his waist. Two soft hands lay against his naked chest. A slimy feeling licked his right cheek.

"Had a nice sleep, little boy, meow?" An unfamiliar, feminine voice cooed into his ear. Her sensual voice and sweet pheromones filled all Naruto's senses. His lack of strength rendered him helpless to her wiles as she grinded into his waist.

"Kuroka, are you done with your new boy toy?" A new voice, male this time, jokingly called out to the woman, Kuroka, on top of Naruto. Pouting, the female slipped off his body and out of the sheets covering him.

"Where am I?" Naruto weakly requested from the bed. Turning his head sideways, he felt the presences of others in the room. There was a brief pause before someone answered back.

"So, you're finally awake. Unfortunately, we cannot give out that information. You are in good hands, though," Another male voice answered his question. This time, the voice was deep, serious, brief, and straight to the point.

"The dragon god, here, retrieved you from the dimensional gap after your battle with whatever you fought against. I, as the leader of this group, would like to thank you. You confirmed Great Red's existence, the one I want to defeat," A third male voice, smooth and deep, brought Naruto up to speed. These people could not answer where he was; this immediately set Naruto on the defensive, but in his condition, he's not in a position to fight back. To his surprise, he felt familiar sage chakra running through his chakra coils. Someone had been transferring natural energy into his body while he was asleep. The woman, Kuroka, was she the one? There was something else as well, deep in his gut. It felt wriggly, if he had to describe the unusual sensation.

"Dragon god?" Naruto, still half-asleep, asked to no one in particular. Extending his probe, Naruto sensed five individuals - one girl, three guys, and one he could not describe - in the room with him. All five felt distinctly different from humans; their chakra, if it was chakra, felt way off. With sage arts, he saw their energies shape the silhouette of their bodies. Kuroka, who straddled his waist earlier, wore a kimono, an obi wrapped around her waist, beads, and a headband; Naruto noticed that her kimono barely hung over her rather large bust, even larger than that of Hinata! The guy next to her wore armor covering his torso down to his navel, shoulder and hip pads, forearm and shin guards, and wielded a staff. The third person wore a business hat and trench coat; the texture of his aura reminded Naruto of Shino. The third male in the room wore a long-sleeved light jacket, chained pants, and leggings? So a pretty boy? Finally, Naruto focused upon the last individual who had yet spoken a single word. The dragon god, he presumed.

"You and I, we can kill Great Red," the Dragon God stated nonchalantly. Everyone in the room except the pretty boy widened their eyes at her declaration. It was not often the quiet, emotionless dragon god dramatically requested a favor. Though, what heaven, hell, and they witnessed not too long ago, it's certainly within the realm of possibility. Thus, was the start of a very awkward relationship.

"Your aura feels like a little girl, but you're not. Are you the dragon god?" Naruto asked the gothic child sitting on a stool in the middle of the crammed room. Although silent, her nod answered his question. "I remember someone next to me before I passed out. Was it you?" The bedridden ninja asked her once more. Again, her nod confirmed his suspicion. "Why do you want to kill Great Red?"

"It invaded my home. I desire silence. I, want to kill Great Red," she declared monotonously. Even Naruto was silent at how blunt she was. The other members, aside from the leader, in the room remained quiet throughout the whole discussion.

"Sorry, but I can't go along with that," Naruto rejected the little girl's offer. "That Great Red is seriously strong. It's doing something very, very important for me, so I won't try to kill him," He answered seriously. Everyone in the room felt a faint, ominous energy weighing down on their shoulders. Even in his gravely weakened state, Naruto made sure to get his point across.

"Ok, you won't cooperate with the dragon god," the pretty boy ended the discussion abruptly. Naruto let go of his killing intent and panted heavily. That battle, lasting more than twenty-four hours, really took a toll on him. He hadn't felt this exhausted since his first duel against Nagato manipulating the Pain bodies.

"Perhaps a woman's touch is necessary, meow," Kuroka suggested coyly. She went up to Naruto and purred sweetly into his ear. He blushed heavily as the black cat rubbed her cheek against his whiskered cheek. His face went full blown Kushina hair red once she whispered something extremely naughty into his ear. Even with his denseness, Naruto knew full well the effects women had on men.

"Kuroka, the more you do that, the more likely he'll pass out again," Pretty boy commanded his subordinate. Pouting, Kuroka left the boy's side. Breathing returning to normal pace, Naruto calmed down. Just turned seventeen years of age, he's still unable to handle women. He frowned inwardly at the thought of this.

"Why am I here? How long have I been here? Who are you?" Naruto, his turn, interrogated those around him. With his current situation, his eyes were useless and only his right arm was functional. His chakra levels were extremely depleted, even with nine of the greatest chakra reservoirs in his body. It felt like eons since he had been conscious.

"Just under two weeks," The serious one wearing the trench coat answered. "The Dragon God retrieved you about two weeks ago. You had been in a coma the whole time you were here. Had it not been for Kuroka here or the Dragon God, your eyes and your left arm may not have made it. Your eyes were bleeding profusely, and your left arm, it's not yours. The skin tone is much lighter than the rest of your body. Whatever the reason maybe for the transplant, but whoever did the operation haphazardly left it unfinished. Your immune system was rejecting that arm," The Shino-look-a-like summed up quickly.

The news made Naruto very uneasy. Attempting to move his left arm, he felt nothing but pins-and-needles. His eyes were burning. The wriggling in his stomach made him queasy. It continued until Naruto could no longer hold it and emptied his stomach contents. The barf gained considerable distance and landed all over the Dragon God. Everyone looked incredulously at the range his puke got. The Dragon God wiped the slimy vomit off her face. A strange, slithering creature wriggled on the floor before dissolving into thin air.

"Bleh, that tasted nasty. What the hell did you put in me?" Naruto, with his right arm, wiped the drool around his mouth. If anything, the experience felt like when he swallowed a fully grown frog and Itachi's crow, and spat them back out. Those times were very unpleasant. Though he can't see, he felt the unusual aura and shape of the creature before it disappeared.

"Like I said," the business man continued, "your body was extremely weak and rejecting your left arm. The Dragon God, whom you just vomited on, forced one of her 'snakes' into your stomach to increase your strength and stabilize your condition. However, your body still tried to reject the arm. Kuroka, through direct skin contact, injected energy from nature to ease the pain and manipulate your immune system. Since you arrived, she had been regularly caring for you. Eventually, your body accepted the arm. It was amazing, considering, you fought with your arm in that condition. Normal people would have lost that arm and died from blood loss, but with sheer will power, even unconscious, you overcame this obstacle," He blandly recounted past events since Naruto was in a coma for quite some time. Lying on the bed, Naruto absorbed the information.

"I must say, you have _amazing_ form and muscles, meow. I could just rub up against that chest of yours _all day_, meow," Kuroka playfully praised Naruto's developed body. To this, his cheeks blushed deeply again. Some girl, who Naruto pretty sure was hot, did various "things" to him while he was asleep. So, this may be how it felt on the receiving end of a Sexy Jutsu?

"For a powerful being, you sure can't handle women! Ha ha!" A armored one mockingly laughed at his distress. If bandages were not covering his eyes, Naruto would have glared intensely at this person. Pretty boy knocked the guy upside the head.

"Stop it you two," the pretty boy leader ordered, but the armored one couldn't help but annoyingly snicker a bit. "Vali, that's my name. Pretty sure you've met Kuroka. This one, here, is Bikou. He's Arthur Pendragon," The pretty boy, named Vali, introduced his group to the bedridden shinobi. Naruto analyzed the names; Kuroka, "black sound," and Bikou, "beautiful monkey," sounded familiar to him. At least he could understand those names, but Vali and Arthur Pendragon? Those don't sound native to his land at all. So, what Kakashi-sensei told him was true: he wasn't home any longer.

"Wait, how can you understand me?" Naruto asked a very good question to which no one had a reasonable answer. Everyone in the room looked questioningly at him.

"You speak Japanese, but the dialect seems quite unusual. I've never heard anything quite like it," Arthur, the holy sword wielder, answered emotionlessly. Naruto was pretty sure Shino would be good friends with this guy.

"Japanese? What's that?" Naruto asked which threw everyone for a loop.

"You're saying that you don't even know what language you're using? How much of a blockhead are you?" Bikou, the monkey boy, insulted the weakened blond ninja again. If only Naruto could get out of this bed and get his hands around that monkey's neck…

"Stop it Bikou," Vali, in frustration, rubbed his eyebrows. Bikou and Kuroka were handfuls to control at times with their immature and naughty personalities, and naughty in different ways. "Since you were speaking in Japanese, we assumed you originate from the island nation of Japan off the east coast of Asia."

Naruto remained silent for a moment. Asia? Japan? Those titles held no meaning to him. Where were the elemental nations? He really was far away from home then. Nothing made sense to him. These people certainly didn't feel like shinobi, and their auras were way off. Only Kuroka felt like she had a semblance of chakra. If anything, Vali slightly felt like a dragon, and Naruto only knew how dragon energy felt after meeting Great Red, the first real life dragon Naruto ever met. How is he even communicating with these people? This could not be a simple, mere coincidence.

"As confusing as this whole situation is, we can't stay here for much longer," Vali decided to end the visit. "I was here to check on Ophis. Kuroka's shift watching over you is over, so it's time for us to take our leave," The pretty boy led his group out of the room. Arthur, due to his curiosity, followed Vali into the room to look at the face of a being who could stand as Great Red's peer. Bikou just wanted to use face paint and draw amusing pictures to complement those whisker marks embedded in Naruto's cheeks, but Bikou would never tell him his true intentions. Kuroka had to periodically clean Naruto's face after each of his excursions. With that, only Naruto and Ophis remained.

"So, you're Ophis, the dragon god. Sorry about…you know…" Naruto, if he could sheepishly rub the back of his head, apologized to Ophis for his little puking episode. Somehow, Ophis removed all the vomit off her body and clothes. Dragons work in mysterious ways, Naruto figured. Though, he wouldn't step onto the floor until a janitor came and cleaned up his mess. The regurgitated stomach contents started to smell.

"Ok," She replied back curtly. For some time, the two remained in the awkwardly silent room. Naruto didn't even know what time of day it was. Ophis, was she always alone like this? Isolated from the outside world? She and he prisoners at whatever location they were?

"So um…what do you do at times like this?" Naruto, attempting to break the ice, tried to strike up a conversation in the grueling silence. Naruto, with his energetic personality, hated whenever he was in the hospital.

"I, say my wishes. I, hand out snakes. I, sit," Ophis truthfully answered as though she didn't care about the morbid situation they were in: alone in a room with concrete gray walls and no light. The lack of light didn't affect a blindfolded Naruto.

"…" Naruto had no comeback to such a brief response. She was like the complete opposite of him personality-wise. Great, not only was he stuck to this bed, the only person in the room with him barely spoke a word, and if she did, the sentences were so short and brief, he couldn't hold a conversation. "So…what exactly was that snake you put in me?"

"A piece of my power," Ophis responded apathetically. "My snakes grant power to ones who ingest them."

"Well…thank you," Naruto showed his gratitude to the dragon god. Ophis nodded. If what Arthur Pendragon said was true, then Ophis really got him out of a jam after his fight. Even though the snake was out of his systems, he still felt lingering effects circulating around his body. "Where am I anyway?"

"Khaos Brigade," Ophis gave a clear answer as opposed to Arthur, "my organization to kill Great Red." That didn't really answer Naruto's location problem, but now he somewhat knew what he was dealing with. The name doesn't give much confidence though. However, if Ophis is calling the Khaos Brigade 'her' organization, then why is she all alone in this room? Shouldn't she be in some top secret base discussing strategies and tactics? Things didn't add up.

"So, you sit all alone in this room, every day, and just give out snakes whenever requested?" Naruto, disgusted, asked to which Ophis nodded. Even blindfolded, Naruto could feel the air vibrations indicating certain body movements and gestures. Loneliness, solitude, he certainly knew how painful it was, but it didn't seem to affect Ophis. "Why?"

"I want Great Red dead," Ophis reiterated as if it was her raison d'etre. "You are interesting. What is your purpose? Name?"

"Um, Naruto Uzumaki," he just realized that he rudely never introduced himself to any of his visitors earlier. "My purpose, well, I do have a mission I must complete for my friends and people. My duty is not over yet," Naruto tensely responded with strength and determination not fitting his young age. Even Ophis felt the resolve behind those words. This child surprised her to no end.

"Why do you have whiskers? Are you a yokai?" Ophis continue to interrogate her new roommate.

"Um, yokai?" Naruto, again unfamiliar with this world's terminology, repeated her question. If "yokai" translated into the meaning he's familiar with, then the closest would be the tailed beasts. Through time, people from his world lost the origin of the tailed beasts and feared them. They called the tailed beasts various names such as "demon fox" or "yokai." "I'm not a yokai, if I get what you're asking."

"Humans domesticate animals and keep them as pets," Ophis recalled an observation she noticed while living in the human world for millennia. Modern city-dwelling humans went to pounds to adopt stray cats and dogs captured off the street or rescued. "I found you. Therefore when you are ready, you will go 'fetch.'"

"Wha…you think I'm some type of dog?" Naruto, befuddled, muttered. The logic boards of his tiny brain went haywire. To this, Ophis only nodded. "What the hell!? Ow!" Naruto suddenly jerked himself into an upright position, but intense pain rain through his entire body. He collapsed immediately back onto the bed.

"You are still hurt. Go to sleep," Ophis commanded. It wasn't as if Naruto could deny her in his condition.

"Yeah, yeah," With that, the blond hair child of prophecy slowly fell asleep once more.

* * *

Two months later…

Issei tabbed his place and closed the book. After a long day at the soup kitchen with Sakura, he returned home and lay on his bed. Holding in his pent up emotions all day, Issei took a rest before reading Jiraiya's book, _Tales of a Gutsy Ninja_. Issei skipped to the back to see Jiraiya's picture when he was much younger. Also, the back noted how one of Jiraiya's students inspired him to write this novel. The main character, "Naruto," was set in a world much like Earth, but full of awesomely powerful and fictional ninjas, also known as shinobi. Villages full of these shinobi waged war against one another past, present, and foreseeable future.

"_Even if you do take me down, another assassin will attack the village. As long as we are cursed to live in this world of shinobi, then there cannot be any peace, ever!"_

From what Issei experienced volunteering for the poor and homeless of Japan, his entire world perspective was flipped underside the head in just a day. Until this point in his life, he only ever cared about himself. He took his parents' love and generosity for granted like a child. He happily lounged around and selfishly took society's riches for himself without a care for those who are less fortunate than him. He gave into his hormones and, unlike a normal teenager, drowned in his lust. If the shinobi world in this fictional book was a metaphor of the real world, then was peace truly impossible?

"_We are just ordinary people driven to seek vengeance in the name of justice, and if one was to call vengeance justice, such justice will only breed further revenge, and trigger a vicious cycle of hatred. Right now, we live in such a cycle. I know the past and can foretell our future. It is the same as our history, so we believe that human beings can simply never understand each other, and never will. This world of ours is ruled by hatred, and hatred alone."_

Issei remembered what Sakura told him earlier today. She left him stunned for a while before another volunteer snapped him out of his stupor. A vicious cycle of hatred bred from justice. A vicious cycle of hatred bred from vengeance. Was there a difference between justice and vengeance? Was it all just self-gratification? Means to an end? Who benefitted? So many questions ran through the adolescent's developing mind. Japanese modern society still viewed Issei as a child, so he never really thought of such deep issues plaguing the world around him. How could he, who lived in such a developed society, know the answers?

"_Well, I'm going to break that curse one day. If there is such a thing as peace, then somehow, I'm going to find it! And I'll never stop looking!"_

"The guts to never give up," was it that simple? Was that the only thing necessary to achieve peace? The world was not that simple. Life could throw so many curve balls and change people. How could the main character, "Naruto," persist through all that and still believe in the possibility of peace? Of course, "Naruto" was not real, and the book was fiction. There wasn't even an ending to the story. It never explained how "Naruto" achieved peace in that cursed shinobi world. He looked at the end and only found a blank page.

"Honey, are you still awake? You have school in the morning," Issei's mother, Mrs. Hyodo, noticed her son's room light was still on and it was past midnight with school on Monday. "Are you still reading? I should thank Jiraiya for getting you to read something else other than your 'naughty' novels, but you shouldn't be up so late." (Little did she know, Jiraiya gave Issei _Make-Out Violence_.)

"Hey mom," Issei, sitting legs crossed on the bed, grabbed his mother's attention, "if someone were to kill me, what would you do to my murderer?"

"Why are you asking something like that? Is someone threatening you at school!?" Mrs. Hyodo grew extremely concerned with Issei's sudden question. Quickly, she rushed to his bedside.

"No, no one's bullying me at school!" Issei hopefully relieved his mother of her worries. Only the kendo girls bullied Issei directly, but that was mostly his own fault to begin with. "It's only a hypothetical question!"

"Ok," his mother eyed him suspiciously, "I would seek justice for my own son's death, whatever the cost."

"What if that person was poor and needed money for food?" Issei extrapolated upon his scenario.

"Killing another person is never acceptable! There are other ways to find food for the poor. Why are you thinking of such things? Just go to sleep, please," Mrs. Hyodo pleaded for her son to stop delving into such dark thoughts. No longer wanting to continue the conversation, she forced Issei to lie down and draped the blanket over him. Kissing her son on the forehead, she turned off the lights and closed the door. Tired, Issei, thoughts still lingering in his head, fell asleep.

The next day after his first class, ironically history, Issei went to homeroom and sat in his assigned chair. He blew off his friends', Matsuda and Motohama, invite to peep on the kendo club girls, but he didn't care for that at the moment. All he wanted was Sakura to tell him when Jiraiya planned to meet. Eventually, the pink-head arrived and took her seat behind Issei. She noticed the dark, gloomy atmosphere hanging over his head.

"Hey, what's up? Something bothering you?" Sakura prodded him with a tap on the shoulder.

"Huh…wha…" Issei snapped out of his daze and noticed Sakura worriedly looking at him, "oh, hey Sakura. I was looking for you. Please, can I speak with Jiraiya? When and where will I meet him next?" Issei demanded with a force and determination he never felt in his life, but kept it on the down low to avoid attention from other students.

"Jiraiya is always flaky like that. He never set up a proper schedule yet? Fine, just go to the park fountain later today right after school. I'll see to it myself that he is there," Sakura agreed to his request. That look in his eyes, she had seen those types of eyes before.

"Thanks," With that, Issei spoke not another word to Sakura the entire homeroom period.

Later that day, after the final school bell rang, Issei slowly made his way to the park fountain where Jiraiya first made him his assistant. The walk, only ten minutes, was long and arduous. He didn't care if he accidentally bumped into pedestrians walking by him. Those lingering thoughts from yesterday continued to plague his mind. A few leaves passed by his face as the wind slowly picked up before it died. Looking up from the ground, Issei found Jiraiya sitting there, waiting for him. He guessed that Sakura could be quite persuasive when need-be. Sitting on the fountain, Jiraiya motioned for the young teenager to join him. A few minutes passed before either one said a word.

"Sakura told me what happened yesterday," Naruto, disguised as Jiraiya once again, sighed and broke the silence. "I'm very sorry for putting you through that."

"No, it's alright," Issei shook his head while averting his eyes away from the older man. "I just wasn't ready to face the real world, I guess. I've never looked beyond myself."

"When my other student, the one I told you about, learned the harsh reality of the world, he didn't know how to handle it also. Nearly gave up. Didn't have an answer," Naruto looked down at the floor as well. He remembered when Nagato gave him a rude awakening to the real state of the shinobi world. The emotional turmoil confused Naruto completely. After listening to his story, pinned down to the floor, all his joints broken, he nearly gave up.

"Nothing in this world is that simple," Naruto continued. "Human love is not so worthless that you can just sweep it under the rug. Listen, a misguided prophet once told me, 'in this world, whenever there is light, there are also shadows. As long as the concept of winners exists, there must also be losers. The selfish desire of wanting to maintain peace causes wars and hatred is born to protect love. As long as humanity exists, then hatred will exist with it,'" Naruto, still hanging his head down, recalled a fact Obito inherited from Madara Uchiha. As long as light exists, equal amount of darkness exists. The duality between Yin and Yang is irrefutable just as the sun and moon. Whatever form duality may take, there will be always be two equally opposing forces. Where there is love, there will be hate.

"Then, what is true peace?" Issei, still staring at the concrete floor, questioned the disguised Child of Prophecy, the messiah, the savior, whose duty was to bring peace to the world. "The book you gave me didn't have an ending. The main character, 'Naruto,' **did not** achieve peace," The brown-haired adolescent commented about the ending he skipped to. It was just a blank page, as if the story was not yet over.

"'Naruto' is no god; he's just as human as everyone else," Naruto, as Jiraiya, forcefully responded back to Issei with more intensity than he intended. Though Issei didn't notice, his hand out of Issei's line of sight clenched tightly. Painful memories flooded Naruto's mind before he locked them into a cubicle in his brain. "'Naruto's' role is not yet over. To tell you the truth, I did not write that book. This book is a replica of the very first book my master wrote. He was seriously trying to change the world with his message. My sibling student inspired our master to write the original book. My master bequeathed to me this book, and my sibling student his will," Naruto/Jiraiya came clean about the book's origin. Naruto brought his clenched fist over his heart. Remembering pervy sage's teachings and Nagato's dream living on in him, he steadily calmed down.

"Even I'm able to see, there's entirely too much hate in this world of ours. You know, I've always wanted to do something about this hatred, but I'm just quite not sure how to go about it. I truly believe the day will come when all people will understand one another and live in harmony. More important than how to achieve it is the power to believe that it will happen!" Naruto shouted the last sentence with such ferocity that even a dazed Issei had to look up. Issei, for the first time in his life, saw real determination and confidence that never could be taken away or broken down; confidence that anything was possible.

"How…" Issei, still holding doubt, stumbled over his words, "How can you tell that you'll never change your mind. Do you really think that you'll never stray from that ideal no matter how many obstacles come before you? You think you can always believe in yourself? How do you know what life won't change you?" Issei, awestruck, gazed up at the man as the sun, as if forming a halo, shined behind Naruto's head.

"If 'Naruto' stumbles just because things get difficult. If the hero of this novel changed who he is, then it'll become a whole different story. It sure wouldn't be the story my master and sibling student left behind, and it wouldn't be about 'Naruto.' The truth is, 'Naruto' doesn't know what real peace looks like, just like the ending to this book. So, any sequel has to come from the life I live. So that's why no matter how up pain my path brings…I'll keep walking…because that's who 'Naruto' is!" During his entire speech, Naruto never realized that he stood up and declared everything aloud.

Looking around him, he noticed all the park goers stopped to listen to his conversation with his student. Completely moved, a little child wearing gothic Lolita clothing started clapping. Soon, another, and another, and eventually everyone, around the park fountain, applauded. Entirely embarrassed, Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his gray hair. Noting a certainly annoying little dragon god somehow found him in public, Naruto grabbed Issei and Ophis by their wrists and dragged them away from the crowd. Eventually, they hid in an alley way in the middle of town.

"What are you doing here!?" Naruto reprimanded Ophis who showed no signs of remorse. Seriously, he wanted to strangle her. She, missing leader of a secretive terrorist organization, was not supposed to be out in the open. "Sasuke and Sakura are supposed to escort you to the shopping mall for new clothes!"

"I prefer the real one. Reveal your tru…" Ophis blabbed out without considering Issei watching their entire conversation. Naruto covered her mouth before she could complete her second sentence. If Ophis were not a dragon god or disguised as a little girl, he would knock her upside the head.

"Um, who is this?" Issei, completely out of the loop, questioned the much older man interacting with a much younger looking girl.

"Um…ie…well…um…" Stumbling over his words for a bit, Naruto quickly devised an excuse to get Issei off his back while he formulated a plan to deal with the ever so oblivious dragon god, "she's my granddaughter! Right! My granddaughter!" Naruto laughed suspiciously. Issei, highly doubting his reasoning, raised an eyebrow.

"Right…and why is she wearing that?" Issei pointed out Ophis's rather unusual choice of clothing. Just as usual, Ophis, lacking any form of common sense, wore the revealing doubled-tied coat that revealed her chest and stomach, white bloomers, and black frilly coat. "Are you a pedo?"

"What the hell!?" Naruto, seriously offended by the question, shouted back at his underling. "I'm not some sort of sick-minded criminal! I like older women!"

"Yeah, right! I bet you're some creep who peeps on women's bathhouses in order to see little girls coming in with their moms! Lolicon!" Issei accusingly pointed his finger at the much older man. Ophis, without a care in the world, watched them continue on with their debacle. If anything, she may actually be enjoying it.

"Lolicon!?" Naruto retorted. Even though Issei no longer had doubt hanging over him, his usual self greatly pissed Naruto off. This was almost as bad as back in the academy days where someone knocked him, and he accidentally kissed Sasuke on the lips. Since Issei's not a little girl, he'll have no problem knocking some sense into him. "You little…"

"There you are!" A familiar voice called out from the entrance to the alleyway. A mob of pink-hair made its way to the three. "I've been looking everywhere for you. Don't run off like that," Sakura, still in Kuoh Academy uniform, padded the little black-hair girl on the head and sighed with relief.

"Hey Sakura," Naruto, still wearing Jiraiya's face, greeted his pink-haired teammate. "How did she get lost? Where's Sasuke?" Naruto looked all around Sakura, but found no sign of hair duck-butt.

"The student council requested his presence," Sakura mentioned offhandedly, but looking at each other's eyes, Naruto and she knew something was up. The student council president was a sharp woman and stronger than expected. Now, she wanted to face them head on. Maybe it wasn't the best idea on Sona's behalf to go after Sasuke first. "As for her, I was looking at some children clothes that fit nicely on her, but I looked away for a second, and she was gone. I searched all over the department store."

"Well, at least I found her, right?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head and gave the widest grin possible. Everything was resolved in the end, right?

"And where were you taking her? To the sauna?" Sakura, crossing her arms over her chest, sternly tapped the ground with her foot. Much to Naruto's and Issei's surprise, the three of them coincidentally ran down the same alley where Issei first encountered "Jiraiya." The same alley right behind the sauna with a peep hole into the women's bath. To Naruto's dismay, Sakura noticed the small peep hole he used. Sweating profusely, Naruto, in Jiraiya's clothing, got on his knees and begged her for mercy.

"I can't have you badly influence this child here with your perverted attitude! And this boy here, he's the ultimate embodiment of lust and perverts! What kind of combination is this!? Are you trying to lead this little girl down the dark path of debauchery!?" An irate Sakura reprimanded the two pervs. It seems Sakura got around the rumor and gossip mill at school. To Issei's horror, an astral, demonic version of Sakura somehow grew from the pink-head's ever darkening aura. Embracing each other, Naruto and Issei screamed as they quickly met their painful fate.

"SHANNARO!"

"AH!"

* * *

Monday, 3:30 pm, just as Sakura mentioned, Sasuke Uchiha was requested to report to the student council room. Making his way to Sona at his own pace, the black-hair heart throb arrived at the pair of elaborately decorated doors. Tsubaki allowed him inside after knocking. Student council president Sona Sitri and vice-president Tsubaki Shinra waited for him. Sasuke took a seat, across a table opposite of the head desk, which Sona and Tsubaki directed him. The vice-president graciously laid out tea for both the president and guest. Eying them suspiciously, Sasuke noticed Sona did not touch her cup of tea. Picking up his cup, he gently swirled it before replacing it on the plate. Shifting his eyes left and right, Sasuke saw nothing obvious.

"What is it you want from me?" Sasuke asked the two. He didn't want to waste his time on these two.

"Where were you on Sunday?" Sona began her interrogation to which Sasuke suspected. Leaning forward and interlocking her hands, she examined for any sort of body movement that gave away any sort of information. However, Sasuke had the best poker face and body she had ever seen.

"Nowhere close to this campus, if that's what you're aiming for," Sasuke returned his vigilant gaze back at Sona. The two stared each other down for a few seconds. Calculating each other's move, Sona made the first strike.

"Your friend Sakura," Sona pulled up her file, "she has shown quite a violent streak towards some of our students." Of course, she referred to the incident where Sakura decked Matsuda and Motohama, two of the perverted trio, and completely blown out the wall leading to a hole in the kendo club locker room which forced Sona to relocate the club temporarily. "Recently, we had some unruly individuals visit our school. Yakuza, we've never had this problem before. Probably targeting your friend's dyed hair."

"And you are purposely pointing out Sakura because of her natural hair color? I thought an institution of this prestige would be above racism," Sasuke glared darkly at the student president.

"I'm not prejudice against Sakura's choice, but I hardly call pink a realistic _human_ hair color," Sona countered. In actuality, no human had natural hot pink hair ever in history. Surely her hair had to be artificially colored. "Normally the public morals committee would have discussed with Sakura Haruno of her choice, but since you two are new students, I allowed her to slide until she got her act together. Until now that is. The problem is that she's attracting the types of persons who are a danger for our students. It's best to act proactively to a problem as opposed to retroactively."

"And your solution?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Something was wrong here.

"Expulsion, for your friend. We, the student council, cannot jeopardize the majority of our students if one student does not comply with our dress code," Sona harshly answered. She didn't want to pull out this card, but she needed some kind of response from her opponent.

"And you actually believe I would fall for such a threat?" Sasuke smirked. "I don't care what happens to Sakura, but when you imply an indirect threat to me, you've got to pay. What is it you want, the real reason?" Sasuke tensed his legs, preparing for some king of attack.

"No, someone of your prowess wouldn't fall for an empty threat," Sona knew her gamble wouldn't pay off fully, but at least she got a rise out of her opponent seating across the table from her. It was time to play her next card. Snapping her fingers, four bars of light forming a square base underneath Sasuke shot up from the wooden floor and connected to form a rectangular prism.

"A magical prison," Sasuke observed. He touched the invisible wall and resulted in a shock, but he didn't flinch. "You expect this to hold me?"

"Try breaking out," Sona taunted to which Sasuke complied. He struck the barrier with a light punch, but felt an unexpected stronger force go up his arm. Strange, he shouldn't feel that much recoil from a simple punch. "_Tsubaki cast her magic, reverse, and used her Mirror Alice to double the effects. Due to his careful nature, Sasuke won't try anything substantial so Mirror Alice will have enough time to recover and reuse its double reflect ability_," Sona thought inwardly. She made a pretty accurate assessment of the opponent before her and made proper preparations. Only a devil higher than high-class caliber could break through that barrier, and even a powerful high-class devil wouldn't come out unscathed due to Mirror Alice reflecting back any technique two-fold. Even if Sasuke got out, he would have to deal with not only Sona and Tsubaki, but her entire peerage waiting in the wings.

"Now, let's try this again. What are your real intentions?" Sona, feeling confident, began the real interrogation.

"I'm impressed," Sasuke lauded his opponent. "At first, I underestimated your abilities, Sona Shitori, or should I say, Sona Sitri?" Sasuke taunted and allowed that tidbit of information to pass. Sona narrowed her eyes; at least she now confirmed that Sasuke had background intel on her which probably meant the other two did for Rias and her as well. "My initial illusion wasn't strong enough to ensnare the heiresses of the Gremory and Sitri Houses. Calling me out was pretty daring. I guess this prison will somehow prevent any form of illusions and techniques, physical or magical. However, you made a crucial mistake."

"And that would be?" Sona didn't like where this was going. Her opponent, Sasuke, was too confident in the given situation.

"That you chose me as your target," Sasuke smirked and glared Sona right in her eyes.

Within a blink of an eye, Sona lost track of Sasuke. He was no longer in the prison, and the prison itself looked intact as if no struggle occurred. How was that possible? She felt no sort of movement at all. It was like Sasuke completely disappeared. Suddenly, Tsubaki, who was just standing behind her, fell forward; she was knocked unconscious. Another illusion, Sona interpreted her queen's condition. When she kneeled down to check on her queen, a member of her peerage fell flat on her face. Sona had placed at key positions and hidden peerage members around the room should Sasuke escape. However, one by one, each of her peerage members fell until all of them were knocked out, and Sona had no idea what had happened. She couldn't even find Sasuke Uchiha.

"Looking for someone? You've been in my trap since the beginning," A dark, ominous voice called out right behind her. Stiffening, Sona's body froze as she finally felt his presence right behind her. How did he get the jump on her? Slowly turning around, the last things she saw were two, heterochromatic eyes staring right into her mind.

* * *

Monday, 3:31 pm, Sona Sitri was finishing a few reports before calling the day over. Tsubaki Shinra prepared tea for the student council to enjoy before the day was over. The rest of the student council members were performing their assigned duties such as paper work and cleaning the council room. For some reason, Sona had a strange sense of déjà vu. On her desk were student files on Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. She couldn't remember why these two files were on her desk. Had they done something wrong? No, if they did, she would have not forgotten about them. Sighing, she ordered Tsubaki to return their files to their proper location amongst the other student files. It was a long day and she wanted some rest.

Outside, a certain black-hair Uchiha rested his back against the wall. His job completed, he left the council room. Down the hallway leading to the exit, Sasuke noticed a mass of red approaching him. Rias Gremory, the other target, passed him as she walked in the opposite direction. Exiting the school building, he felt her eyes on his back the entire time.

* * *

**A/N**: That's chapter three. Thanks to my beta reader for correcting character traits, grammar, and story flow and structure. I thank those who read and reviewed this story so far.

Updates from now on probably won't come until two weeks or so after the previous chapter due to things happening in my life.

Again, reviews and constructive criticisms are welcomed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any part of Naruto franchise or High School DxD

Warning: Spoilers for High School DxD past Volume 4

Read, Review, and Enjoy

* * *

Four and half months ago…

Naruto had been stuck in this bed for about three weeks since Ophis retrieved him from the dimensional gap. Safe to say, he was not a happy camper. At least he had some feeling in this left arm of his now. His eyes still stung, but not as badly as before. Due to serious chakra exhaustion, Naruto slept as often as a newborn baby to recoup his depleted reserves not just for himself, but for nine other tag-a-longs. All the while, a little dragon god watched him the entire time. A few things he noted: 1) Ophis was naïve of the world around her, 2) Ophis was not very talkative, 3) Ophis lacked any sort of common sense, and 4) Ophis needed to stop throwing that goddamn tennis ball at him!

"Geez, when are you going to stop?" The bedridden shinobi groaned. He wanted to pull his hair out. Staying in a hospital bed was torturous enough, but with her throwing that stupid ball at him over, over, and over again, the entire experience felt like Chinese water torture! (Not that Naruto knew anything about China.) She specifically requested Vali for a tennis ball, and said ball bounced off the wall next to his bed like water droplets slowly dripping down on a captive prisoner's head. The ball made two thumps, one off the wall and the other on the ground, before returning to the thrower. This cycle repeated to the edge of Naruto's sanity.

"When will you fully recover?" Ophis asked apathetically. Naruto didn't know the answer either. Since that battle, the nine tailed beasts residing inside him had been asleep. Kaguya's seal required extreme amounts of chakra. He wasn't sure if he could have done it twice without Great Red's help.

Naruto resigned himself to his fate of endless ball bouncing. The only other person Naruto encountered the past week since Vali's group introduced themselves was the nekomata, Kuroka. Coming in every other day for sessions, not only did she replace his dirty sheets, bandages, and IV bags, she also directly connected, via skin-to-skin contact, her healing senjutsu to his chakra system. He could not deny he enjoyed her body rubbing up against his helpless body. It really sped up the recovery process since Naruto's body was already used to natural energy and readily took in the chakra. Kuroka, surprised at this unexpected event, asked about Naruto's history regarding senjutsu, but just as Arthur Pendragon withheld information on the Khaos Brigade, Naruto did not tell her anything about his past.

"Ready for another round, little foxy? You smell just as delectable as ever, meow," That voice signaled the start of another senjutsu session. Recognizing that playful banter, Naruto sensed Kuroka stripping to her undergarments and entering the bed with him. If his master, Jiraiya, were still alive, he would surely had nosebleed to death when the cat yokai's voluptuous breasts rubbed against his bare chest. Instantly, Naruto felt the effects.

"It's much more fun when someone else watches, meow," Kuroka whispered into his ear and gently swirled her right index finger along his whisker birthmarks. She referred to the dragon god, sitting on her stool, observing their little intimate encounter. The situation was awkward enough. Ophis witnessed their past sessions in their entirety, and Kuroka wanted to demonstrate to the dragon god how humanoids reproduced. "You sure you don't wanna? I can detect the scent of strength and power coming from your aura. I've never felt anything so exhilarating before, meow."

"I heal quickly," Naruto protested her advances. He barely knew this girl, and now, she's asking for his babies? There was this one priestess, Shion, who wanted the same thing, but with the fourth shinobi world war, everything else was put on hold. Now, Naruto was not even sure how to get home. He wasn't the best with advance sealing techniques, only basic ones such as summoning and reverse summoning.

"You know, there's a faster way to heal, meow," Kuroka continued to whisper delightfully into his ear. Her pheromones made him shudder. "Ever heard of _Bochujutsu_?" The "Black Sound" suggested. If Naruto learned anything about this woman, it was that everything about her was erotically naughty in some fashion. "A woman directly injects her energy into a man via sexual intercourse. How about it? We both get what we desire, meow," Kuroka proposed explicitly. Naruto's face grew full blown habanero red. Now, Kuroka had been teasing him about sex ever since he woke up. At least she did not take advantage of him while he was asleep, but for some reason, Naruto felt that a certain pretty boy made sure Kuroka didn't "abuse" his comatose body. However, Kuroka, panting heavily, seemed much more forward than before. He could feel her body temperature heat up drastically.

"We, nekosho, at maturity, can control when we go into heat, but sometimes, our desires get the best of us, meow," Kuroka rubbed her cheeks against his and purred. Naruto felt the guttural desire emanating from her vocal cords. He would have given in at this moment had Kuroka not released her hold on him. "Ow!"

The dragon god, bored of their foreplay, resumed throwing the ball at the wall once again, but this time, the ball accidentally landed on Kuroka's head. Completely engrossed in her lust, Kuroka did not notice the ball unexpectedly hitting her. Knocked back to her senses, she got off Naruto and sat at his bedside.

"Resisting even me, is there a girl waiting for you, I wonder, meow?" Kuroka, for the first time since Naruto met her, inquired with a hint of sadness in her voice. Even she had a sense of honor and dignity regarding relationships.

"I hope there will be people waiting for me," Naruto solemnly responded back. At this point, Vali's group and Ophis deduced that Naruto was not of this world. The revelation completely shocked everyone that there were multiple universes outside the human world, heaven, hell, and other dimensions mythological deities resided in. "I may be the last one alive."

"Last one standing," Kuroka, ears drouping, reiterated. She knew how that felt; her sister and she were the last of her kind, nekosho, a rare subspecies of nekomata. She didn't know why, but Naruto's aura made her feel calm, like his presence was warm sun rays shining down on the Earth. "I have a sister. She's under better care than I can offer her."

"Where is she?" Naruto inquired. This was the first time any person here tried to initiate a conversation with him. Either Ophis annoyed him, Bikou annoyed him, or Kuroka naughtily annoyed him whenever he had company.

"Shirone, my sister, I heard a rich devil household took her in. They can provide a better life than me," Kuroka, uncharacteristically, continued on. "I'm pretty sure Ophis brought you up to speed with the races of this world," Kuroka was right. Even though Ophis lacked common sense, she was quite knowledgeable of this world's various mythological histories, races, and differing species ranging from dragons, angels, fallen angels, devils, yokai, valkyries, etc. The dragon god also informed him about traditions and cultures different factions performed.

"When our parents died, a high-class devil took in my sister and me. He reincarnated me as a bishop with two evil pieces. I learned senjutsu and youjutsu while serving our former master. He was a cruel, power-hungry master and wanted to experiment on my Shirone, so I killed him. I ran away and left my sister to her fate; she was so young, and I couldn't let that happen to her," Kuroka recounted her harsh past and regretful decision. Sure, she abused her senjutsu abilities, but saved her sister as a result. Since that day, Kuroka held onto the guilt of leaving Shirone alone. Luckily, Sirzechs Gremory took Shirone in where Rias renamed her as Koneko.

Naruto, lying on his back and still blindfolded, sensed the rippling disruption in her aura. He could tell the pain she held underneath her sexual exterior. All too often, Naruto had seen similar events occur in his world. Where there is hate, there is love. Where there is vengeance, there is justice. "White Sound," how fitting to compliment the "Black Sound."

"You remind me of a great and honorable man," Naruto returned her story with one of his own. "Itachi, he was a genius from a young age. He was talented at everything. However, he had to shoulder a burden so dark that it engulfed my home village, and maybe, the whole world. His clan was set to rebel against the government with a coup d'etat, but he had to choose between his clan and the village. He chose the village and slaughtered his clan, but left his younger brother, Sasuke, alive. He had hoped that one day, Sasuke would kill him and be seen as a hero. When Sasuke learned the truth, he realized how much his brother loved him, and how much he loved Itachi," Naruto remembered a hero who until the end, proclaimed himself as a proud ninja of the hidden leaf. Kuroka looked at Naruto as if his entire tale was fictional.

"_You and I are flesh and blood. I'm always going to be there for you, even if it's only as an obstacle for you to overcome. Even if you do hate me. That's what big brothers are for."_

"No matter how far you two are apart, you are still Shirone's sister. You can bet that once Shirone learned the truth of the circumstances, she'll accept you as a sister once more. I promise! I keep my promises because that's my nindo, my ninja way! Ya know!" Naruto declared with the utmost confidence that even Kuroka believed in his resolve. That warm glow surrounding Naruto was like a beacon for better, brighter future.

"Feh, your words make me want to believe you," Kuroka grinned widely, if Naruto could have seen her face. Unexpectedly, Naruto felt a pair of warm lips on his cheek and a gentle stroke along his whiskers. "I'll see that you keep your promise, meow," With that, the session was over and Kuroka left the room, leaving only a bedridden Naruto and silent Ophis.

The dragon god, from her lone stool, observed the entire exchange. This blond hair child, in her eyes, was a curiosity unlike any individual she had met in her long lifetime. He made others believe in him and want to follow him. His words and strength belonged not to a child, but to a seasoned veteran who survived countless hardships and battles.

"You say those words," Ophis started, "but do you really mean them? Are you prepared to carry a promise forever?"

"Just as I said, 'I never go back on my word.' That's my ninja way! I rather die than break a promise," Naruto declared with such tenacity that even the dragon god could not question him any further. Instead, she resumed throwing the annoying tennis ball back and forth, much to Naruto's ire. Sighing, he prepared himself for bouncing for hours on end once again.

* * *

A few more days past, and thanks to Kuroka's healing sessions, Naruto felt almost fully recovered physically and off those tubes pumping nutrients into his bloodstream and gut. Though his chakra levels were still low, he could move freely on two legs again. Warming up with legs, arms, and torso stretches, Naruto performed a few taijutsu regimes to dust off some rust on his skills.

"Ow!" Naruto felt something hard bounce off his head. He should have been more observant since he's still blindfolded.

"Fetch," Ophis threw the infernal tennis ball at him once again, but this time, Naruto was prepared.

"This damn thing," The irate blond gripped the ball tightly and chucked it as hard as possible at the dragon god. However, even with all his might, Ophis simply caught the ball with only one hand. "You're not bad."

"You as well," Ophis threw the ball just back at her recipient.

Naruto caught the incoming throw, but felt the impact. He shook his right hand; that throw of hers was just as hard as his, but with little effort to produce the same result. Sure, Naruto was undergoing physical therapy, but Ophis threw really hard. An idea lit up in his head: the recovering shinobi threw with his left arm. The dragon god caught the ball, and threw it back. Naruto repeatedly with his left arm threw the ball back and forth with the deceptively little girl. This was decent training to regain control over this left arm of his, and keep Ophis occupied. If you can't beat them, join them. The two threw the ball back and forth until even Naruto tired of the game. Sighing, he caught the ball; preventing any further annoyances, he held onto the ball. Then, he sat in a lotus position and focused his mind.

He meditated and used sage mode to sense the layout of the location he had been stuck in for just over three weeks. A barrier blocked his probe from reaching outside. Though he could not sense any of Vali's group members, perhaps on some mission, there were quite a number of substantially strong individuals. If he had to gauge based on shinobi rankings, most were genin-chunin and others reached up to jonin and even kage level; the spectrum surprised Naruto. Two guards stood in front of Ophis's chamber. With the hideout's structure memorized, Naruto would just have to bide his time until the right moment. Just then, Vali's energy signature appeared; was there a sort of transportation system akin to Naruto's familiar body flicker technique?

Regardless, what was he going to do with Ophis? Obviously, she was the Khaos Brigade's leader in name only. This conglomeration of various factions didn't seem to have a specific leader, and each faction wanted to complete their own objective. In other words, they were not united, and that could be Naruto's ticket out of here. He did not want to leave the dragon god here, all alone. In some ways, her isolation reminded him of his early childhood and other jinchuuriki's. She was only a weapon to be used for nefarious purposes, even if Ophis did not care. However, Ophis seemed particularly interested in him. Even though Naruto didn't know Ophis's full power, he heard from Vali that she's supposed to be the strongest and made gods quiver. Born from the infinity of nothingness, the dragon god left the dimensional gap long ago and lived amongst humans. She took on different appearances throughout time. However, when she tried to return the dimensional gap, Great Red took up residence. She repeatedly requested Naruto to join her and oust Great Red, but the apocalypse dragon was doing something important for him.

Could he even get out of here while carrying a second person? Only God knew what went through Ophis's head, and that unpredictability could lead to problems. How he could judge her since he was known as the "the number unpredictable knucklehead?" The tailed beasts had yet to wake up from that battle, so he was on his own. With sage mode, he can surpass kage level, and what he sensed throughout the facility, there were several kage level persons. Vali was also an unknown. Naruto sensed that he had not only dragon powers, but also demonic powers. While Ophis told him various mythological factions that lived in this world, he had no real intel on what of abilities or techniques Vali or anyone else around him possessed.

Until the time was right, he would bide his time.

* * *

Two months later…

Monday night, Naruto brought Sasuke, Sakura, and Ophis to his apartment. It had been four days since last Thursday when they arrived in Japan. Setting a Japanese heated table, kotatsu, to the center of the living space, the four sat with their legs folded underneath the soft blankets. After Sakura beat the crap out of Naruto, as Jiraiya, and Issei and Sasuke erasing a portion of Sona peerage's memories, team seven had to decide where to continue from this point on.

"I can't clean up after this mess you made," Sasuke reprimanded Naruto. "Your involvement with the locals is jeopardizing our mission." Sitting across from Naruto, Sasuke sat upright with his legs folded underneath the kotatsu.

"I'm thinking that we are going about this the wrong way," Naruto voiced his opinion. "I know I said to keep our search a secret, but it has been three months since I've arrived. There has been no sign of Kaguya's will or a way to get home. I think we need some help," He placed his arms on the table.

"These people will only slow us down," Sasuke countered harshly, "or did you forget you have a secretive terrorist organization after you and hiding their former leader?" He pointed to the dragon god sitting next to them. She ignored their drivel and continued to drink a bottled soda through a straw.

"And where have we gotten by ourselves so far? Without Rossweisse's help, we would not even have known where Japan was! Even though we sealed the body, Kaguya's will got away to who knows what dimension. If the Sixth Paths old man didn't even know of him and hid until he betrayed Madara, how are we supposed to find him by ourselves?" Naruto critically asked his teammate again. Tensing his back, Naruto sat erect and glared at Sasuke.

"You only got lucky that Valkyrie found you, but we may not be so lucky the next time. Hagomoro entrusted us to bring peace to **our** world. We should continue to not involve ourselves with this world's issues," Sasuke propped himself up to the blonde's eye level. Naruto and he always butted each other's heads, and they were at the tipping point over this issue.

"Sasuke, please listen," Sakura interjected between the two warring transmigrants. "All of us want to return home and free everyone from the Infinite Tsukuyomi, but as Naruto just said, I don't think we can do this on our own any longer. By train, Kyoto is just a few hours from here. If you want, we may leave soon," A vain attempt as mediator, Sakura tried to compromise between her two teammates. However, Sasuke glared at her intensely, which caused her to shrink and lower her head.

"Sakura," Naruto tried to console his female teammate. Ever since Sasuke returned, Sakura tried to reconnect with the Uchiha. However, Sasuke only respected power, that of Naruto's and his own. Sakura may not be a transmigrant's power, but she's a strong and capable kunoichi of her own. "I still have duties to finish here. I can't just abandon those two.

"You should not have befriended those two in the first place," Sasuke chided his transmigrant's other half. "We only stopped in this city to find more information on Japan and the quickest way to Kyoto. Your Jiraiya disguise helps evading any potential Khaos Brigade members from tracking us. However, you inherited your master's will and took a student, Issei, on a whim. Yes, our source of income in this world is Jiraiya's old novels, but your conscious is slowing us down," The Uchiha slightly gritted his teeth at the stalement this conversation headed towards.

"I felt it in Issei's left arm," Naruto, looking down at his left arm, added his observations to the discussion. Sasuke tracked his eyes as well. "It felt the similar to Vali."

"Is he the Red Dragon Emperor? He's nothing like Vali," Sakura, thoroughly surprised that such a low-life pervert might be the other heavenly dragon, questioned Naruto.

"I'm certain of it, but the dragon is still asleep. If Issei were to fight Vali as he is now, he'll surely die. I can't let that happen. Also, Koneko, I'm sure she's Shirone. I made a promise to Kuroka to find her sister and reunite them," Naruto declared with his ever so unwavering confidence; the belief that once united an entire world together.

"Just as I said, they are not our problems!" Sasuke, extremely frustrated, slammed the table and caused Sakura to jolt slightly in fear. " Things will be simpler if the white heavenly dragon took out the red heavenly dragon early. It has already been three months since Naruto arrived. The longer we stay here, the more likely more of **our** people will convert into White Zetsu," Sasuke reminded the two what the stakes were should they fail. Sakura, knowing Sasuke was right, looked down at the table.

"Yeah I know," Naruto got on his knees and glared intensely at the Uchiha. "Without Kaguya's chakra, everyone from our world will no longer possess chakra, even if we free them," Naruto reiterated Sasuke's main point. Kaguya's will, Black Zetsu, still retained Kaguya's portion of chakra. Without that chakra, Naruto could not redistribute it back to the shinobi of his world.

"However, I just can't leave the people of this world to their fate," Naruto solemnly looked down at the table. "Just like our world, meaningless fighting and senseless war are everywhere. The clones I set out to scope the world and the memories that return to me, I can see the bloodshed, the hatred…" Naruto, the Child of Prophecy of the shinobi world, clenched his eyes. Displaced refugees from Central America and the Middle East were landless because of a dark history of war. Israel, Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, and many other countries of this world were at war. The two great super powers, United States of America and Russia, were once again at a Cold War state where the two countries used smaller countries as proxies in order to battle one another. A vicious cycle of hatred.

"_The land of fire and the hidden leaf have grown too big. To protect their national interests, they forced feudal clans to wage war against each other and profited from it. Otherwise, the people of the villages would have starved. As it happened, our little nation and its villages became the battlefield at which the great nations waged their war. Each time they did, our nation was ravaged and laid to waste. After many such battles, the great nations stabilized, but our small nation suffered and barely recovered_."

"_As long as the shinobi culture exists, there can never be true peace and order. In order to try to protect something that's precious, wars are waged. As long as there is love in this world, there's also hate. Some will take advantage of that hatred. As long as we have this ninja system, this monster known as hate will live and give birth to more 'Pain's.'_"

"…and pain. I can feel their bottomless pain," Naruto with his potent ability to link to other people's energies, could also sense their emotions and thoughts. Nagato's and Minato's words replayed in his head each time a clone sent back memories and information from wherever in this world he was. His right hand clenched his chest. "And I don't know how to achieve true peace yet. That just means I can't stand at the sidelines and let everything in **this** world go to waste! However…"

"_You once said it was everyone who cares about you that helped you get to where you are now. If you forget others now because you have power, and become arrogant and egotistical, you'll eventually become just like Madara. No matter how powerful you become, do not try to shoulder everything alone. If you do, you will surely fail_."

"Your brother, Itachi told me that you can become a Hokage only when other people acknowledge you. A Hokage is someone who endures the pain and walks in front of everyone else. It's someone who finds a solution for everyone else to succeed," Naruto, who once said the same words to Six Paths Obito, recounted his beliefs to Sasuke. "Kakashi-sensei asked, 'why do you want to be Hokage Sasuke?' Will you just let **this** world burn to achieve that goal?" Asura's transmigrant questioned his brother's transmigrant. Sasuke closed his eyes and remained silent for a moment.

"My reasons to become Hokage are none of your concerns," Sasuke stated and glared darkly at Naruto. "but, to answer your other question: **yes**, I would watch this world go to hell to save **our** world." Sasuke, glaring eye to eye, stood up to match Naruto's stature. The two, whose ideals clashed against one another, repeated the endless dispute since the dawn of the shinobi era.

"Ok, let's put an end to this discussion," Sakura stuck her arms between the two and forcefully separated them. Calming down, Naruto and Sasuke returned to their seats under the kotatsu, but still disgruntledly scoffed at one another. "We can make that decision soon enough, but I want to show some information I discovered from the 'internet' Apparently people, of this world, 'google' for information," Sakura exaggerated the last word since the ninja world never used such technology to relay information. Carrier birds were the traditional methods of message transmission. Seals appearing on her left wrist, Sakura pulled out a stack of paper and placed it on the desk. The boys, curious, picked a random paper from the pile and read the contents. Eyes widening, they quickly skimmed through the rest.

"Just as we thought, it's no coincidence that we feel so connected to Japan," Sasuke commented as he read through the information. Dropping the paper, he revealed an image of a long-nosed, bird-like mythological creature known as a tengu. Tengu, a large anthropomorphic bird yokai, were seen as dangerous, yet protective spirits of the mountains and forests. However, the physical characteristics set off many similarities to Perfect Susano'o. Indra, the ancestor of all Uchiha, passed down tengu characteristics to descendants who achieved Perfect Susano'o. How and why?

"Take a look at this as well," Naruto exchanged Sasuke his paper. On it was a picture of a nine-tailed fox, kyubi. In Japanese folklore, a kitsune, or fox spirit, was portrayed as a trickster. The older a kitsune aged, the more tails the fox yokai acquired until the nine limit. Other images displayed pictures of a tanuki, nekomata, and ushi-oni. Shukaku, Matatabi, and Gyuki, they greatly resembled these spiritual beings respectively. A tanuki, raccoon in Japan, was mischievous, jolly, and a master of disguise and shapeshifting, but sometimes absentminded. Yeah, that described Shukaku. Nekomata, Kuroka was a nekomata, nekosho to be exact, and possessed two tails. Ushi-oni, also known as gyuki or ox demon in Japan, was a horned, bovine sea-dwelling yokai mixed with another creature. In eight-tails case, he was a combination of an octopus and ox. How were four of the nine tailed beasts related to mythological Japanese creatures?

"It's clear that our worlds are inextricably linked, but why and how?" Sasuke asked the question aloud to no one in particular. Placing his elbows on the table, interlocking his fingers, and lowering his mouth, Sasuke brainstormed possible explanations as to the reasons why Naruto and he were so related to this world.

"Ophis," Sakura directed her attention to the dragon god who finished her soda, "you've lived for a long time. Do you have an explanation?"

"For the time I've lived amongst humans, I have never come across a person as interesting as you," Ophis cryptically said while looking at the blond ninja.

"I take that as a no," Sakura sighed and sat back underneath the kotatsu.

"In any case, this revelation only entails us to leave this pit stop and continue to our predetermined destination, Kyoto," Sasuke used the new information to further support his argument against Naruto's desire to stay in this city. Naruto, knowing deep down Sasuke was right, was hesitant to abandon Issei and leave before he heard Koneko's answer.

"Just give me some time to think," Naruto looked away from Sasuke and Sakura. "I'll decide later on."

"The longer you push this issue, the more time it'll take for us to get to Kyoto," Sasuke reiterated his argument once more before standing up and making his way to the door. Sakura followed him as well.

"Don't you guys wanna shower and eat something?" Naruto hospitably asked his two guests.

"Remember Naruto, the way we are now, we don't really need to eat, sleep, or clean ourselves unlike before…," Sakura solemnly reminded her blond teammate of the plight Sasuke and Sakura were in. Sticking her hand underneath her shirt, she pulled out a necklace connected to a black rod. "We can't go anywhere without you anyways, so you will have to decide our next move," She also mentioned, whether Sasuke or Sakura like the situation or not.

"Right, I always forget…" Naruto looked away from his two friends; Sasuke faced outside the door of his blond counterpart's apartment, while Sakura looked down at her feet. Naruto touched the black rod strung around his neck. With that, the two closed the apartment door behind them.

"_Hey, Naruto, you there?_" A deep voice echoed in Naruto's head. In response, he assumed lotus position, closed his eyes, and meditated.

When he opened his eyes, Naruto, standing in a dark space, saw the four aforementioned tailed beasts: Shukaku, Matatabi, Gyuki, and Kurama. The large sand tanuki, with blue markings riddled across his body, looked rather perturbed about something. Matatabi, with her flaming blue fur, sat on her rear. Gyuki rested on his tentacles and knuckles. Kurama, nine tails flowing freely, also sat on his behind. It had been a while since Naruto talked to them.

"_Hey you guys! How's it going? Where are the others?_" Naruto, resting both hands behind his head, greeted his peers with a foxy grin.

"_Naruto,_" The eight-tails started, "_we know we shouldn't disturb you, but we requested your attention. This matter pertains mostly to us, so the others decided not to interfere. I assume you know what we are talking about._"

"_Yeah,_" Naruto understood Gyuki referred to the information Sakura dug up from the "internet."

"_While we were asleep, you met a nekomata, similar to myself,_" Matatabi chipped in. "_Although, Kuroka is nothing like me, or is it the other way around?_" The two-tails pondered for a bit about this dilemma. Which came first: the chicken or the egg?

"_There cannot be another tanuki!_" Shukaku childishly shouted to no one in particular. "_I'm the one and only 'Shukaku!' No one else shall claim my title!_" The one-tail pounded the nonexistent floor.

"_Ah, shut your trap!_" Kurama scolded his brethren. "_Why must you be so fricken' loud!_" The nine-tails folded his long ears to block out Shukaku's insistent whining.

"_Hey! You can't tell me what to do just because you have the most tails!_" Shukaku pointed accusingly at the kitsune. Kurama rolled his eyes. Once again, the sand tanuki indirectly complained about his inferiority complex concerning the number of tails each tailed-beast possessed. Though, Kurama did have sort of a superiority complex because he had nine. Matatabi and Gyuki only shook their heads at their constant bickering.

"_You two, be quiet!_" Face-palming, Naruto with his right hand formed a staff, consisting of a ringed head, six rings interlocked with the head, and a half crescent bottom, and slammed it on the ground. The resulting loud clang quieted Shukaku and Kurama. "_Look, I understand your anxiety, but I don't have answers myself. Did the Six Paths old man know something, anything?_"

"_Not that we are aware,_" Kurama, shaking his head, answered empty-handed. "_We never had time to question the old man. After he used the 'Creation of all Things' and split the Shinju's chakra into the nine of us, the old man soon passed on. We, just born, were overcome with grief at his death, and never questioned why he chose our particular forms and shapes._"

"_The Six Paths old man knew something. Did he possibly come into contact with this world?_" Naruto proposed a possible scenario. It couldn't be a coincidence that Hagomoro Otsutsuki used four Japanese mythological yokai's out of nowhere. Maybe he purposely referenced yokai of this world and enshrined their images in these four tailed-beasts? Things just didn't add up.

"_Just like Kurama said, we know only as much as you do, Naruto,_" Gyuki broke the bad news. "_Kyoto, just as that Valkyrie said, should have more answers to these questions,_" The eight-tails posed his opinion. It seemed the tailed beasts cared for this world as much as Sasuke did.

"_Look, just give me some more time…_" Naruto hung his head low and sat on the ground. For the sake of his world, he should just move on, but Naruto just couldn't abandon the poor, meek, and unfortunates of this world.

"_Naruto, we understand those heavy feelings and burden you're carrying_," Matatabi consoled the second coming of the savior. The duty of the Child of Prophecy was to revolutionize the world. However, did his duty pertain only to his world now that he knew there were multiple worlds in which humans inhabited? "_No matter what, we, tailed-beasts, will follow you_."

"_Yah! We've got your back through thick and thin!_" Shukaku agreed with his sister's stance on the matter. Gyuki and Kurama smiled and nodded their heads.

"_Thanks you guys_," Naruto, with renewed confidence, smiled and pulled himself up from his stupor. "_Also, are those still locked away_?"

"_Yeah_," Kurama answered. Behind the giant nine-tailed fox were the gates that once imprisoned him. However, instead of a giant fox, two enormous spheres hovered ominously. The left crimson ball produced no tangible energy, while the purple sphere on the right radiated almost endlessly deep power. Zero to Infinity. "_They're still contained_."

"_Any idea what to do with them_?" Naruto, still stumped, scratched his head and asked the being that had been with him since his birth.

"_Other than homing beacons for that annoying dragon god? Nope, but they could prove useful one day since you are so compatible with other's energies_," Kurama remarked. Inheriting chakra transmission from his parents, Naruto could easily mold not only his chakra, but others to produce a perfect fit for himself. The two spheres were not like chakra belonging to that of the tailed beasts or humans, so they don't hold separate consciences, but that did not make them any less potent.

"_Well, it was nice talking with you guys, but that dragon god is up to something. I can feel her poking me_," The blond bid farewell to his 'roommates' before returning to reality. The four tailed beasts nodded and returned to the depths of his mind.

Awakening from meditation, Naruto found Ophis sitting under the kotatsu and poking his right cheek. Though often Ophis's irritable lack of common sense riled Naruto, this time the dragon god's awkwardness served as comedic relief. The shinobi smirked and finally knocked Ophis's hand away. Then, he leaned back with his arms as support.

Normally, Naruto was an energetic, happy-go-lucky fellow, but after what happened a few months ago, he had to reevaluate his goals. Sasuke was right in some aspects: Naruto, hailed as the Child of Prophecy, was destined to save his world. The victory over Kaguya felt hollow. The longer he was stuck in this world, more of his people would succumb and become White Zetsu's. However, team seven's initial method produced no results. Black Zetsu, Kaguya's Will, was still at large as well. There also was no conceivable way home. Not only the Khaos Brigade, but every mythological power seemingly desired Naruto for various reasons. Kyoto, as Rossweisse suggested, might hold some answers.

"What is your answer?" Ophis, emotionlessly staring at him, asked the all-too prevalent question.

"I don't know," Naruto stared up at the ceiling. Everyone from his world placed their hopes and dreams on his shoulders. This wasn't the first time Naruto had failed, but the magnitude of the situation bore a heavy burden on his mind.

"I, have lived amongst humans for an immeasurable amount of time. There are still mysteries in this world I do not hold answers for," Ophis replied back with some form of cryptic pep talk. The dragon god always had an unusual way of relaying her thoughts.

"You think there's really an answer out there?" Naruto asked the aged-old being, to which she nodded.

"Thanks, but I just can't abandon this world. So much pain and violence, they remind me of my world. No one understands one another. No peace seems possible. A cursed and vicious cycle of hatred," Naruto closed his eyes for a bit as he recalled the words of those who preceded him.

"_You might try to find meaning in war, but all there is, is loss and unbearable pain. All that senseless death, it unleashes a cycle of violence and hatred that never ends. War only creates more war, and those are the things you will face in the coming days, Naruto_."

Hagomoro, Asura, Hashirama, Madara, Tobirama, Hiruzen, Jiraiya, Minato, Kushina, Obito, Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato, all looked for their own solutions to this problem. The victory over Kaguya seemed even more empty than previously thought. Kaguya might had increased the monstrosity known as war, but since prior to Kaguya's time, humans waged war. Love and hate, the duality, constantly intertwined, led to war. Taking away free will, just as Madara and Obito mistakenly desired, was not true peace. Under the constant fear of nuclear-caliber weapons or combined tailed-beast destruction, as Nagato once aimed for, was not true peace either. Peace seemed so out of reach.

"_If 'Naruto' stumbles just because things get difficult. If the hero of this novel changed who he is, then it'll become a whole different story. It sure wouldn't be the story my master and sibling student left behind, and it wouldn't be about 'Naruto.' The truth is, 'Naruto' doesn't know what real peace looks like, just like the ending to this book. So, any sequel has to come from the life I live. So that's why no matter how up pain my path brings…I'll keep walking…because that's who 'Naruto' is!_"

His own words to Issei resonated in his mind. Smirking, Naruto got off his arms and sat upright. No time to doubt himself. Too many people relied on him, and who cares if there was another three billion? His duty was not over until he found peace for the masses. He couldn't do it himself. Sakura was always there. Sasuke, though he didn't acknowledge it, desired the position of hokage as well, just not in the same mindset as that of Naruto, but even so, they held the same goal. The past hokages desired a world where siblings no longer had to kill each other. Surely Itachi had great influence over Sasuke's decision.

"Thanks," Naruto said to the dragon god before stretching. Looking at the moon's position in the night sky, he realized their discussion passed midnight. "Time for bed." With that said, Naruto got up and went to shower.

Ophis, aimlessly staring at the bathroom door, decided to not wait and dug into his refrigerator. Knowing that the dragon god reveled in sweets as much as he desired ramen, Naruto stocked the fridge with sugary drinks sometime before Sasuke, Sakura, and he brought in the kotatsu. Odd, to Ophis, that Naruto stockpiled this apartment with simple furniture and food since team seven planned to move on from this town. Perhaps, Naruto was planning on returning? There were certainly quite a number of interesting individuals in this city, and those with power attracted other strong individuals. Even the infinite dragon god could not foresee the future. After a few minutes, Naruto finished his nightly routine in the bathroom and laid down underneath the kotatsu. Ophis took the bed once again. Silently bidding the other good night, lights went out, and the apartment inhabitants fell asleep.

* * *

The school week past by fairly uneventful. The student council no longer seemed interested in Sasuke's or Sakura's case (due to certain actions an Uchiha undertook). Team seven separated since the group discussion Monday night to give Naruto some space to make his decision. In the meantime, Naruto awaited Koneko's answer. Team seven's initial plan to keep their movements and actions under the table had produced unfavorable circumstances with those who held the territory. This might prove troublesome in the future should Naruto attempt to reconcile with the two heiresses. Though Sasuke, with good reasons, remained cautious of interacting with anyone of this world. Naruto, masquerading as Jiraiya once more, pushed Issei to his limits after school each day since Issei had yet to find a proper extracurricular activity.

"Ok, that'll be enough for today," Naruto, as Jiraiya, and Issei finished another mile around the track at the recreational center. Issei collapsed to his knees, but kept his torso and head up to open his airways. 7:00 p.m. Friday, Naruto finished beating Issei like a dead horse.

"Thank god!" Issei, though not religious, shouted to the heavens. His legs turned into jelly. Five miles was nothing for a seasoned shinobi, but for a city boy who could barely run to the convenience store and back home, the ordeal felt like a nightmare. Naruto had to push Issei from behind at times just to get the teen to walk at a decent pace.

"Now the hard part is done," Naruto, surprising Issei, mentioned. "If you continue with this daily routine, I'm sure you can reinvent yourself. I also think it's time to start acting like an assistant."

"Huh?" Issei, confused, uttered wordlessly.

"This," Naruto held up a stack of papers rolled up with a rubber band, "is my latest work aside from the Make-Out series." He handed the roll to Issei who unwound the bundle and read the title.

"_Tales of Naruto Uzumaki_?" Issei said aloud as he read the front page. "Is this some kind of sequel to the other book?"

"In a way, yeah," Naruto lied a bit. In actuality, it was more of an autobiography. If Jiraiya's work inspired Nagato and himself, and Naruto's life united a world, then maybe his life story written in a book might change this world.

"What's up with these characters?" Issei skimmed through the next few pages only to find the story almost illegible. The language and grammar was all over the place. What exactly was he supposed to do with this?

"You're going to edit my work!" Naruto, with Jiraiya's face, smiled cheek-to-cheek at a wide-eyed Issei.

"How the hell is anyone supposed to fix this!? This is the complete disaster! How did you even publish Make-Out Paradise with grammar like this!?" Issei nearly threw the papers back at Naruto's face. He was right, though; Naruto's work barely passed grade school grammar in this world's school curriculum. Only thanks to Rossweisse's patience and aid that _Make-Out Paradise_, _Violence_, _Tactics_, and _Tales of a Gutsy Ninja_ were even written intelligibly.

"This is what you signed up for. Make it happen by one week from today," Naruto sternly ordered his subordinate.

"How am I supposed to do that!? I'm meeting up with my friends an hour from now! I've got school work to do also!" Issei complained about the added workload.

"Life's not fair," Naruto responded with only that simple statement. Issei had to figure out his own way to manage his time. Right now, he floundered his time around too much and was only average in his school work. Perhaps some extra work would goad Issei to focus and adequately divide his time. "Fine, one week from Sunday. No more compromises."

"Fine," Issei, without saying good bye, grumbled before taking his leave. Sure, thanks to Naruto's little life lesson earlier in the week, Issei was more sympathetic towards others, but that doesn't mean he had to like them. Just because you understood someone did not mean you could forgive that person. Life's not going to go his way, and Issei had to learn how to cope with different forms of pressure. If he did not, then no amount of physical training could prepare his mind in the fight against his destined rival, the White Dragon Emperor. When the brunette teenager was out of sight and earshot, Naruto turned towards the shadow.

"So, you have an answer?" Naruto, as Jiraiya, asked as if he were talking to the air. Out of the entrance door shadow, Koneko revealed herself. Tailing Issei was her original mission, but also coincided alongside "Jiraiya's" movements. Standing within talking distance, but far enough to be out of physical reach, Koneko firmly stood her ground as she felt dense killing intent directed straight at her.

"I came to say that I refuse your conditions. I cannot place my friends in danger for my sake," Koneko, with her usual poker face, looked at Naruto dead in the eye.

"Is that you final answer? So, you claim that your allies' lives are more important than the mission parameters? Even if this will result in your death?" Narrowing his eyes, Naruto directed more killing intent at Koneko. Barely able to stand on her feet, Koneko struggled to stay upright, but readied her potential attack. Quickly bouncing her eyes side to side, there were no other people running the track probably because it was a Friday night. "…you pass!"

"…?" Koneko, confused, felt all the weight on her shoulders suddenly disappear. The deadly atmosphere surrounding Naruto quickly dissolved, and he smiled.

"Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash," Naruto reiterated the first lesson Kakashi, a philosophy passed on from Obito, ever taught team seven. "The final part to mastering senjutsu is the guts to never give up. Your resolve, your will to push on even in the worst situations. I can see the determination in those blank eyes of yours. You may not show it, but you bottle your feelings. Those emotions will only break your concentration, and you'll never master the sage arts," He gave the little yokai a thumbs up, congratulating her effort.

"…Sure," Unable to comprehend fully the situation, Koneko simply nodded and released the tension throughout her body.

"I'm sorry for any distress I caused," Naruto apologized. "You have to understand the situation I'm in as well. This territory belongs to Rias and Sona, does it not? My friends and I mean no harm. Sure, a certain someone *cough* 'duck-butt' *cough* can be an ass at times, but he rather not had have our paths cross in the first place. It was my fault that my friends and I got involved with you. So, on my behalf, please relay this message: 'I'm sorry,' but allow me to stay in your city for a bit longer. You have my word that my friends and I will cause no more trouble," Naruto, wearing Jiraiya's appearance, bowed with his head down before the much smaller adolescent girl. Though, his height even at this level was just as tall as the petite Koneko.

"That's not my decision to make, but I'll relay your message," Koneko agreed since "Jiraiya" came mostly clean about his circumstances. She could tell that he genuinely wanted to make amends.

"I guess that's good enough for me," Naruto sighed but smiled. It might take time to fix this complicated situation, but he hoped for a second chance. "As promised, I'll continue with your senjutsu training."

* * *

**A/N**: That's chapter four. Thanks to my beta reader, fairy tail dragon slayer, for correcting character traits, grammar, and story flow and structure. I thank those who read and reviewed this story so far.

Updates from now on probably won't come until two weeks or so after the previous chapter due to things happening in my life.

Again, reviews and constructive criticisms are welcomed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of Naruto franchise or High School DxD

Warning: Spoilers for High School DxD past Volume 4

Read, Review, and Enjoy

* * *

Four months ago…

Just over four weeks since the victory over Kaguya Otsutsuki, Naruto regained physical control over his body. Though his eyes were stilled bandaged and the tailed-beasts unresponsive, he felt ready to move on and find a way out of this hideout. Probing the Khaos Brigade base until he memorized the layout and routine amongst the inhabitants, he noticed a large influx of magically adept individuals. Since Ophis described the various species and races of this world, Naruto inferred that these newcomers were magicians since he had never felt energy like those. Dragon energy had a much rougher texture than other types. Demonic powers felt darker and destructive. Magic seemed formulaic and arithmetic. An escape under these conditions seemed unfavorable, but Naruto felt as if he should get a move on.

The past two days, an unscrupulous individual had been collecting snakes from the dragon god. Normally, Ophis only allowed Vali and his team members passage into her chambers. The other times, a regular errand boy retrieved the snakes, but he had been relieved of his duties. However, this new handler gave Naruto weird vibes. Though Naruto could not see, with his meditation and sage techniques, he noticed the new person eyeing him every time he gathered snakes. His disturbing interest reminded Naruto of Orochimaru and his obsessions. Though not confirmed, Naruto was pretty sure why he was not an experimental lab rat at the time he arrived was because of Ophis's unusual interest in him and kept all others, except Vali's team, out of her chambers.

Whatever the reasons may be, he felt the time was now. As per usual routine, Kuroka arrived for healing session. Since that conversation, the nekosho and he were on friendlier terms as opposed to sexual accomplices. He really hated what he was going to do, but for his safety, he would have to apologize to her whenever he got a chance. As the doors closed behind her and Kuroka approached, she suddenly tensed as an ominous feeling washed over her. Naruto had removed the bandages over his eyes, and eerily stared at her. Suddenly, he disappeared. Unable to comprehend what just had happened, she felt a quick strike to her neck and fell unconscious. Feeling guilty, the shinobi gently laid the yokai on the bed. Then, he formed three shadow clones and commanded them to meditate. Using the technique he developed with Fukusaku, Naruto had his clones gather sage chakra while the main body moved around.

Fascinated, Ophis watched the blonde's plan unfold. For the longest time, she had been disinterested in the events of this world until this individual crashed in from another dimension. Naruto transformed into Kuroka and waited until the allotted him passed. With his disguise, he, without the guards paying heed, casually walked out of the room. Out of any person's sight, he hid himself in the shadows and meditated. Probing the hideout's layout, Naruto searched for the best route towards the magic circles that would teleport him out of here. Once he found the exit, he would infiltrate the magician's ranks and make a path towards from Ophis's chambers to him. A shadow clone would take the dragon god, and the main body would mentally coordinate the best route from her chambers to the gate. Searching for a few moments, Naruto discerned the best pathway towards the exit.

Generating five more shadow clones and all six transforming into generic magician fodder complete with three-eyed cloaks, Naruto and clones carried out the strategy. Each blended into a group of magicians and gradually closed in on the teleportation circles. Naruto did not like the high level of activity. The Khaos Brigade was gathering an army of magicians, but for what reason? War was of course the most probable answer, but with whom? The Khaos Brigade was comprised of several factions who each had their own goals. What were the magicians' goals, or were they pawns for someone else? Either way, this development increased the urgency to find the gate.

Finally, the main body discreetly broke away from a magician rank and hid in the shadows right outside the teleportation gate. Using the Transparent Escape technique he learned from Jiraiya, Naruto camouflaged into his surroundings and examined the controls. Great, he couldn't read the magical scripts operating the gate. He would need to "persuade" someone to handle the controls. Returning to the shadows, Naruto telepathically communicated his transformed clones and ordered them to find security personnel to unlock the controls. Mentally nodding, the clones stealthily separated from their ranks and searched for the security room. After a few minutes, one clone found the security room and bided his time until a person opened the door. With luck, not much later a magician exited the room. With that opening, Naruto's clone entered the room, caught the only guard on duty off guard, used his right eye to hypnotize him, and ordered the guard to tell him how to operate the teleportation gate. Once he received the information, the clone knocked him out and assumed the guard's appearance.

The clone then looked at the security monitors. For some reason, no one had been monitoring Ophis's actions? Odd, it was as if someone else did not want other Khaos Brigade members watching over the dragon god? Whoever that individual may be, that person did him a favor before Naruto found out here. Aside from that, Jiraiya's invisibility technique effectively hid Naruto's presence as the clone observed no traces of the main body and other clones on the security monitors. Mentally relaying the information back to the main body, the clone hid the unconscious guard and took control over security.

Receiving the information, Naruto telepathically ordered one of the sage-gathering clones back in Ophis's chambers to get the dragon god. Nodding, the sage clone broke concentration and attempted to take Ophis, but she did not budge at all. No matter how hard the sage clone, with his left hand, tugged on her arm, the dragon god remained glued to the stool. Was she playing with him? This was not the time to joke around. Did the dragon god even have a sense of humor?

"Hey come on!" The sage clone grunted as he vainly pulled. "We've got to get out of here!"

"This is my organization. I shall not leave," Ophis reasoned nonchalantly. It was like trying to reason with a captain who adamantly wouldn't leave a sinking ship.

"You really think they're going to help you kill Great Red? Hell since I've been awake, I haven't felt a single energy signature close enough to match a fraction of your power! They are manipulating you and abusing your gifts. You're willingly imprisoning yourself!" Naruto attempted to sway her decision as he tugged harder.

"Then, what is your answer?" The dragon god dully looked into his strange, heterochromatic eyes. "How will you persuade me to follow you?"

"Uh…" Naruto, question stumping him, uttered while he thought of an answer, "we are on opposite sides of this issue. You want Great Red dead, but I need him alive. You want to go home, and Great Red, even though he talks like a yakuza, just wants space to freely swim, spin, and all that. Both he and you want a home with peace and quiet. Fine, I promise to find a way to compromise between you two! And I don't go back on my word! That's my ninja way!" Naruto pointed with his thumb at his heart while he earnestly held her hand. His intense eyes stared deeply into her searching, lifeless eyes. Ophis sensed the glowing, bright, and warm aura surrounding the blonde ninja. It was like a beacon drawing moths to a flame. His words actually tapped on an emotion she hadn't felt for eons: faith.

"…ok," Ophis, the dragon god, miraculously agreed. She had never thought of Great Red as a wild and free spirit who just wanted to be left alone, just like her. In Naruto's words, she believed that a compromise was possible.

Releasing her invisible, inseparable grip on the stool, she allowed the blonde, in one smooth motion, lift her off and set her on his back. The other sage clones, except for one, awoke from meditation and joined the clone holding Ophis. The lone clone dispelled and delivered the sage chakra to the main body waiting by the teleportation circles. With the clone, disguised as the knocked-out guard, at the security helm, Naruto's clones could more easily maneuver around the base, but the main Naruto had a bright idea. Seeing Nagato use this before, he used the reverse summon technique and out of the result smoke were his sage clones and Ophis. Thinking about it, the summoning jutsu resembled the teleportation magic circles in that both techniques required specially written seals to operate. Shaking his head of complicated thoughts, the main Naruto operated the controls.

However, suddenly the alarms go off. Some person had conveniently alerted the entire base of his escape. How? Kuroka surely was still unconscious, and so was that security guard as his clone confirmed. Just as quickly as the alarm set off, magicians arrived outside the teleportation chambers. His sage clones immediately knocked them out with swift combinations of punches and kicks. Crap, all this technical know-how started to confuse him. Not only did he not know how to coordinate the destination, but also he did not know where he was going to teleport to. The lands of this world only confirmed he was not in his world any longer. The original coordinates were set in the northern regions of a place called "Europe," specifically the "Scandinavian mountain chain?" The blonde mentally cursed as he felt stronger energies quickly coming his way. Taking his chances, Naruto set the original coordinates and dispelled his clones. With a rush of sage chakra filling his systems, he scooped up Ophis and jumped into the teleportation gate.

* * *

Once again, Naruto should have really thought things through. Landing in a pile of icy cold snow with nothing but underwear, the naked ninja cursed whatever god reigned over this region. (Somewhere in another dimension, said one-eye god sneezed). He should have found a set of clothes while his clones and he scoped the Khaos Brigade hidden compound. At least sun's position marked that it was midday. Also luckily, he's still in sage mode, so Naruto's thick layer of chakra surrounding his body offset the freezing climate around him. He had to get a move on; surely his pursuers were still on his tail through the dimensional gate. How fitting to set up a secret supply line right in the middle of inhospitable temperatures and away from human civilization.

"The dragon god decided to take her little pet for a walk?" A voice interrupted his chain of thought. Naruto turned around to see a rather voluptuous lady wearing glasses. She had tan skin, long brown hair tied into a bun, and purple eyes. The extremely low-cut dress with a high slit exposed a large portion of her breasts. A sizable army of cloaked magicians escorted her as well.

"And what's it to you? Who are you?" Naruto stood his ground while he put Ophis on the ground behind him. This was the energy signature he felt right before he hastily teleported away from the base. Comparing her to a level familiar to Naruto's understanding, he ranked the woman at least kage, meaning she was no pushover in the state Naruto was in.

"This is the first time I've ever laid eyes on you. Vali was not very forthcoming on information regarding Ophis," The lady revealed. "Name's Katerea Leviathan."

"Leviathan?" Naruto cursed his luck again. Not only she was strong, she also carried the name of one of the four Satans Ophis mentioned to him.

"You have taken something precious from us," Katerea pointed at the little girl behind his leg. "I advise you return the dragon god and go back into your cage."

"Yeah right, and after all the trouble I just went through?" Naruto answered rhetorically. "You guys left her all alone in a room with barely any lighting and manipulated her for who knows how long. Abused her gifts just to obtain whatever your selfish goals may be. No decent person can let that slide!" The blond child of prophecy preached. Emotions ran high as Naruto remembered the shinobi political structure and balance built upon the trading of the Tailed Beasts by the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. Feared and envied for their power, the tailed beasts were sealed like animals and abused for their strength.

Naruto immediately performed his first signature technique right after he completed his harsh lecture. Instantly, an army of shadow clones appeared around him. However, to save chakra, these clones were not in sage mode since their targets were the cannon fodder magicians with the descendent of the former Satan Lord. He had to get this over with and fast before reinforcement arrived or before he succumbed to the cold. Without warning, the shadow clone army disappeared instantly. Katerea's eyes widened; she felt nothing at all. Those clones did not just simply move. A few clones strayed away from the group in order to gather natural chakra, while another whisked the dragon god away. With the cannon fodder dealt with, Naruto and Katerea locked eye-to-eye.

"I see," Katerea narrowed her eyes. "I cannot pursue that one until I deal with you, whom I assume is the original. What we all witnessed just a month ago was not for show…" The progeny of the original Leviathan analyzed what she just observed. He had an ability to produce large numbers of solid clones unlike the illusions yokai wielded. However, the most frightening power she had seen was his speed. Was it a form of teleportation? Devils teleported with magic circles to get over long distances, but the initiation speed was nothing compared to Naruto's start-up time, which was nearly instantaneous.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked as he flexed his fingers. He was on his own in this fight since the tailed beasts were not responding.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with." Katerea quickly held up her hand and created a large demonic circle. She launched a black beam of demonic energy straight at the blond.

The blast devoured everything in its path, diverted upwards, and took out a mountain top. She expected, of course, that attack would miss as her target was right behind her. At the last moment, she twisted her abdominal so that Naruto's punch from behind missed her body. However, a great force still plowed through her entire body, and Katerea was thrown away with such strength that her impact cracked a mountain side.

Naruto, dumbfounded at his attack, didn't know his frog kata was that strong. No, his physical strength was not this powerful unless Kurama backed him up. He easily dodged the Leviathan's last attack thanks to this left eye of his, but Naruto felt the gap between each time he could instantaneously switch around the battlefield within this left eye's range. Unable to further contemplate on his unusual physical strength, the shinobi observed Katerea flying back to the battle ground. Without Shadow and Light Style offered from the Six Paths sage chakra, Naruto could only fight on a two-dimensional plane while his opponent had freedom in the air.

The ninja formed his signature hand signs; a windmill shuriken poofed into existence. The blond ninja quickly grabbed his new weapon and expertly threw it at his opponent. Not expecting such a quick response, Katerea dodged the spiraling shuriken, but did not expect a second one hiding in the shadow of the first windmill shuriken. She managed to avoid the second as it grazed her flawlessly smooth abdominal obliques. However, looking for her opponent, Katerea felt his ominous presence behind her. Twisting her arms backwards, Naruto, using his newfound physical strength, brought her two appendages behind her back, crossed them over each other, flipped in midair several rounds to gain centripetal force, compounded that energy with natural gravity, and smashed the Leviathan several meters into the mountain rock beneath the snow.

The resulting impact created a crater several kilometers in radius around the epicenter. Naruto leapt off her shattered body. With sage mode, he sensed no active life flow in her aura and considered her unconscious. However, when he was about to depart, a powerful and infinite energy exploded from her limp body. The blond jumped away from the increasing power as it mended her shattered body.

"That was quite a wallop there," Katerea angrily remarked about her opponent's melee combination. She had seen this ability when a senjutsu user entered hand-to-hand combat. That only meant she could not get in close to this adversary. "I can see why Ophis has taken such a liking to you. I will thank her later for this…" The descendent of the great sea monster written in the old testament of the bible revealed a dark, transparent wriggling serpentine creature emitting from her black aura.

"That's one of Ophis's snakes!" Naruto knew of the power those serpents held. After all, it was only thanks to one of those snakes that he survived near chakra depletion and immune rejection of his eyes and left arm.

"With this, my power will reach that of the former Satan Lord, my ancestor, the Leviathan!" Katerea laughed maniacally as the power rushed to throughout her body. "I'm going to enjoy this…" Holding her right hand forward, Katerea formed a demonic circle.

Naruto, with sage mode, sensed that her power heightened several folds. Luckily, the delay in his left eye already past, and he instantaneously switched positions with one of his transformed clone windmill shurikens lodged in the snow. Gaining his footing, Naruto charged head on with his newly super-powered frog kata. However, Katerea pulled a trick out of her own sleeve. Her arms increased in length and aimed straight at him. Using his right eye and sage mode, Naruto foresaw his opponent's movements and precisely maneuvered around her outstretched limbs. At the last moment, the ninja realized that her arms had ensnared his movements. Madly grinning, Katerea redirected her outstretched hands and fired demonic energy at the trapped blond.

Just as before, Naruto switched positions with a chunk of snow right behind the Leviathan. However, a mass of stretching arms erupted from the ground and constricted him. Katerea seemed much more cunning than she lead on. Testing his "teleportation" ability, the Satan lord descendent timed the interval between each of Naruto's "teleportations." With her left arms, she aimed right for the blond's head and prepared to fire before the interval ended. Naruto wriggled fruitlessly as even his newfound physical augmentation to his sage mode could not free him from her Ophis-serpent empowered grip. Out of desperation, the shinobi roared at the top of his lungs and _repelled_ the appendages wrapped around his body. The force of the shockwave threw Katerea over a mountain in the distance.

Naruto, freed from his eminent decapitation, panted as the last of his natural chakra dissipated; that's why he had several clones gather natural energy as the battle was not over yet. After one of his sage-gathering clones burst and returned with his natural energy, Naruto grinned ironically when he realized what exactly was going on. Even after death and in an entirely different plane of existence, his friends, Sasuke and Sakura, continued to support him, and he's going to make the most of his departed comrades' gifts. Not only that, but he was finally getting used to these eyes. Hearing an explosion in the distance, Naruto felt the last of his clones disappear as Katerea vented her anger on his clones and her own magicians.

"You're just full of surprises," she commented and spat out the blood accumulating in her mouth. Leviathan's descendant returned to the battlefield in record time thanks to Ophis's serpent power-up.

"Look, it is over. My clone has already escaped, and I highly doubt you want to expose your operations here just to hunt down Ophis," Naruto bluffed in the hopes that Katerea would just retreat, but if he knew her type…

"Hm, I'll be the judge of that," At this point, Katerea's anger blew through the roof as she charged up an enormous ball of demonic energy. Was she going to blow away this area in the hopes that the level of destruction would outstrip his "teleportation" range?

Villains just don't give up; well, he wasn't as if he could complain since that was his motto too. Naruto help up his left hand and pointed his palm at the charging devil. Katerea felt an irresistible attraction that pulled her straight towards the blond at speeds such that the air resistance paralyzed her limbs. The blond reared his other arm back and charged his chakra into a single point. Unable to escape her fate, the Leviathan watched as if in slow motion; Naruto twisted his back foot and threw his super-powered punch right into Katerea's gut. The force distorted the woman's body as her cervicothoracic region of her body and legs launched forward due to inertia, and her midsection bent backwards as Naruto's fist dug deeply into her abdomen.

With a final roar, Naruto punched Katerea straight through the stratosphere. A faint twinkle in the sky marked the fight's end. Naruto breathed deeply in relief that the fight was over. Mentally communicating with the clone that escaped with Ophis, he disappeared in a poof of smoke as the clone reverse-summoned the main body.

* * *

Sitting at a large, circular conference table, the governor general of the fallen angels and Grigori, Azazel casually leaned back into his leather chair while his second-in-command, Shemhaza, stood next to him. Eyes-twitching, the vice-governor general was infuriated with his superior's carefree manner. The three great powers were about to reconvene after a month since that incident. Azazel had the attitude to call up the other powers for a get together like little girls at a slumber party. Even though he had a devil wife, Shemhaza, still bitter from the loss of his comrades, did not agree with cooperation between the three due to the great loss of fallen angels during the Great War. Only excruciatingly dire circumstances, such as the two heavenly dragons and most recent incident, would coerce him to set aside deep-seated grudges. At the scheduled time, four holographic 3D models appeared at the conference table. The devil's representatives, Sirzech Lucifer and his queen Grayfia Lucifuge, and heaven's representatives, Archangel Michael and the strongest woman in heaven Gabriel, arrived at the meeting.

"Well, this is quite an event," the oldest son of the head of the Gremory house initiated the talks. "We haven't talked to one another since the confirmation of Great Red's existence." Great Red, one of the two beasts mentioned in the Book of Revelation, his existence was only speculated because it was written in the bible. However, all myths and legends had to have started from some event grounded in reality. If one beast exists, then there's a chance that the second does as well.

"And how are recovery measures going on your end?" the leading Seraph asked the leaders of the two dominant factions of the underworld.

"Thanks to heaven's aid and fallen angel technology, we devils, alongside fallen angels, have repaired the barrier between the dimensions and the dimensional gap," Grayfia answered. "Although, rating games have been suspended until we have completely restored the barrier and safely set up arenas in the dimensional gap. The tourism industry has taken a huge hit due to this."

"How about heaven?" Azazel questioned his angelic counterpart.

"Luckily, the system remained intact throughout the whole episode so God's blessings and miracles are still in effect, but the damage to heaven has caused a number of 'mishaps' amongst our followers," Michael solemnly closed his eyes. Because of God of the Bible's death, he has had to control God's system, but not to the same degree as the almighty lord once did. Wars between the Abrahamic religious factions erupted time and again amongst the followers: the crusades, anti-Sematic persecution, and most recently the wars of the Middle East since the turn of the century. Ironically, the soldiers who believed that the wars were in God's name fueled God's system.

"Well, that's good," Azazel admitted. If heaven no longer existed, then the balance between good and evil would have fallen, and in turn, more chaos. "Aside from the recovery efforts, we, Grigori, have been examined the data from that incident one month ago, and we will be willing to share our information if you, Sirzechs and Michael, would be willing to accommodating in completing the entire picture."

"Yes, you mentioned that in your message," Sirzechs held up an AR generator Azazel mailed to both the angels and devils. "However, we would like to know where you were during that incident?"

"Well," Azazel scratched the back of his head, "there has been unusual movement lately in the human realm and underworld. Certain humans, whom I believe possess sacred gears, have been disappearing. Also certain groups who don't agree with the current devil leadership have been more active than normal in the rural areas." The governor general of the fallen angels relayed his findings.

"Sir, are you sure it's wise to so openly discuss this?" Shemhaza hesitantly protested against his superior's carefree attitude.

"Relax," Azazel offhandedly waved off his second-in-command. "There has been enough conflict to last an eternity. I'm just curious as to what peace looks like." That comment caught all the participants in the room off-guard.

"And that's the real reason as to why you called us here? To discuss peace between the three great powers?" Michael doubtfully questioned his fallen counterpart. Even the leader of the angels did not believe his words.

"Not particularly, but if talks go that way, I wouldn't mind," Azazel leaned forward and rested his elbows on the round conference table. "The main reason I requested both of your attendance, I already mentioned. As a sign of future talks, I'll place my cards on the table," Azazel placed his own AR generator on the table and activated it. The device transformed the conference room into a visual replica of the environment in the dimensional gap. Right at the center of the conference table was a holographic, miniature model of Great Red.

"This is what the Grigori was able to produce from the data we obtained, but as you can see, the image is very static and blurry due to instrument and computer failure. That's why I called on both the angels and devils. I hope we can share data gathered between us three and compose an entirely complete record of the event that transpired a month ago," The fallen angel leader explained the issues on his end. Michal, Sirzechs, Grayfia, and Gabriel reluctantly looked at each other before making a decision.

"Since you so graciously pioneered these talks, we can't just refuse your offer," Sirzechs smiled genuinely. The four current Satan lords certainly were carefree as well.

"Lord Sirzechs," Grayfia halted her husband and king, "you sure it's wise to divulge such information. Not only that, you stored this data without my knowledge?" A dark aura surrounded his maid of a spouse. Sirzechs chuckled sheepishly as he defied his wife. Shemhaza agreed with her warnings though. If he were in Azazel's position, this meeting would have never occurred.

"I, on behalf of the angels, suppose we shall cooperate as well," Michael smiled as well. Both of them revealed a USB containing their respective data. The devil and angel leaders seemed to have thought of this possibility. Peace, though very far, took its first step. "You say that peace talks were not part of the agenda, yet you are subtly prodding the angels, fallen angels, and devils toward that path."

"You know me better than that. I would never contrive such a situation to benefit all three great powers," Azazel sarcastically remarked about Michael's observation.

The three complied their respective data and assembled a complete record of the event that occurred about a month prior. The augmented-reality version of Great Red refined in quality until all participants at the meeting had a clear holographic image of the biblical beast of the apocalypse. Not just that, but their combined data was able to fully recreate the entire battle such that everyone could easily examine every detail of the golden, fiery warrior fighting alongside the Great Red against the horned, white-haired, three-eyed woman. What intrigued all three leaders the most was not the two unknowns' widely ranging abilities, but the monstrously enormous ball now floating in the dimensional gap. Whatever the golden warrior's logic may be, he created an astronomical object on par with the size of the moon.

"That moon-sized object," Azazel continued the meeting with his thoughts, "the Grigori has been monitoring it and observing Great Red's movement. So far, the beast hasn't left the superstructure since its creation; almost as if the dragon were protecting it. None of our researchers have been able to get remotely close to the object because of this."

"Based on your observations, do you perceive any part of this situation as potential threats?" Sirzechs questioned his fallen angel counterpart.

"Nope," the governor general leaned back into his seat. "If any of the other mythological religions and factions got the bright idea to get within a kilometer of the object, Great Red would surely annihilate them. Also, the beast had been minding its own business until recent events, so I don't think it'll be a problem if observed from afar."

"Aside from that, please look at this," Michael offered in his input and jumped to where the giant ten-tailed assaulted the dragon-armored warrior with an earth-shattering blast. Soon after, the fiery warrior enveloped the dragon with double-layered armor. "This was from our portion of the data. Looking closely, the armor decorations resemble an 'Asura' from Buddhism and Hinduism. The 'Asura' often were depicted with six arms and three faces," The archangel leader pointed out the aforementioned markings on the armor. Indeed, aside from the nine-tails, there were three pairs of arms and two additional faces adding to the mask covering Great Red's head. The middle left hand held a pitch-black, double-helix sword and a shield in its middle right.

"So, you're saying that these new beings are from East Asia and possibly demigods?" Azazel asked his angelic counterpart. From what the governor general knew of those religions, they originated in East Asia. Pure World Buddhism, or Amidism, was the most widely practiced form of Buddhism. Asura, or Ashura in Japanese, was the name of the lowest ranks of demigods derived from Hinduism.

"I wouldn't rank them amongst demigods," Sirzechs offered his analysis. "The power those two demonstrated far outstrips that of any known demigods. Also, we, devils, captured footage of the individual whom Grayfia, Gabriel, and Shemhaza encountered." This time, the devil leader jumped to the end of the battle when the giant ten-tailed beast was sealed in the moon-sized superstructure. The individual took the appearance of a young, black-haired girl wearing gothic lolita clothing. However, the speed at which she phased into the dimensional gap, took the blond, and disappeared beckoned a few questions such as, "who is this person?"

"This child must possess a great measure of power to approach Great Red. Though we, three, were quite reckless as well," Michael noted on how all three great powers sent in their second-in-commands to retrieve the body right under Great Red. Who know what may have happened to Grayfia, Gabriel, and Shemhaza had the young girl not interfered.

"We have no information on whom this child may be," Sirzechs added, "or what her intentions may be. It's obvious that she's no mere child. Perhaps we should get into contact with Sakra?"

"Meh, that guy, carefree as he wants others to perceive him, is a crafty and cunning individual. I believe it's not in any of the three powers' benefit if we include him in particular," Azazel warned the archangel and satan lord about his suspicions of Sakra, otherwise known as Indra. The Hindu demigod had a buzzcut, and wore circular glasses and a Hawaiian shirt. "Well, I believe this is all we can contribute to this gathering. I'm beat," The governor general stretched his stiff arms and back.

"For now, I suggest we share the information we discussed today for further research on our own time," Michael proposed to which the other two agreed upon.

"Even though it was brief, this meeting was rather successful and fulfilled your agenda. Wouldn't you say?" The red-head satan lord suggestively questioned the fallen angel.

"Whatever you want to believe," Azazel raised his hands as if caught red-handed. "It'd be nice for the three of us to get together again in future, maybe some coffee?"

"Sir," Shemhaza advised sternly. Traditionally, the three great powers never gathered like this, and even more radical, they helped one another.

"Ah, lighten up. We got what we came for. It just so happened that our guests benefitted as well. A coincidental outcome, that's all this meeting was about," The governor general of the fallen angels waved-off his second-in-command's warning.

"So you say," Michael couldn't help but smile from his antics.

"Anyhow, I henceforth call this meeting of the three great powers adjourned," Azazel stood tall and spoke in a false, seriously tone. With that, they departed, each with a complete copy of Naruto's final bout against Kaguya.

* * *

Meanwhile, a twelve-legged horse arrived at a scene of devastation: mountains cracked or destroyed, craters ranging from meters to kilometers in diameter, and heavy demonic energy residue lingering all over the ground. An old, one-eyed, long gray-haired person stepped off his mighty steed onto the ice cold snow of the Scandinavian mountain range. Following close behind was his young bodyguard. A beautiful long, silver hair battle maiden, she wore the traditional Valkyrie armor consisting of a white chest plate with gold and pale blue accents, matching fingerless gauntlets, boots, hip guards, and wing-shaped hair clips. She also wore a black leotard underneath her chest armor, black thigh-high stockings, and a pale blue cloth wrap underneath her hip guards, all of which were clad with pink lacing along with her hair clips. The two surveyed the empty battlefield before them.

"Lord Odin, what do you believe happened here?" The Valkyrie, Rossweisse, asked her superior, the chief god of Norse mythology.

"Dunno," The old god shrugged. "Whatever happened and whomever the culprits involved, they all high-tailed out of here before we could have arrived."

"This level of destruction would require a deity of considerable strength at minimum. Not only that there are no traces of bodies around. Who would wildly go and destroy this serene landscape?" Rossweisse analyzed and posed a possible scenario for the source of the scene in front of the two.

"Whoever caused this certainly is no longer here. That means it's no longer my problem," Odin casually waved off the entire situation and mounted his horse, Sleipnir.

"Sir!" Rossweisse scolded her boss for batting an eyelash. "This region is your responsibility, and a powerful individual slipped underneath the Norse gods' territory! You cannot just walk away without a definite answer!" The Valkyrie whacked the god upside the head.

"Aw, stop being a hard arse," Odin rubbed the area his subordinate hit. "There are some 'pressing' matters I must attend to…"

"You mean peeping on the female mage's locker room again? How about the time you went to the human realm and got arrested for spying on women changing?! Or the time you bought out a brothel! Or…" His bodyguard rambled off the various "misdemeanors" her superior committed over her time underneath his supervision. However, she failed to notice he had already left while she vented her anger to nobody. At her foot was a piece of paper which she picked up and read:

_Hey, Rossweisse. As much as I enjoy listening to your speeches, I went on ahead and given the responsibility of finding those involved to you. Have fun_!

_P.S. While you're out doing that, find a boyfriend. Seriously, it'll do a whole lot of good for ya._

With that last postscript, the blushing red, silver-haired battle maiden angrily scrunched up the messily written note Odin left behind. It was not her fault she could not find a boyfriend! She just did not have the time to go out like the other girls her age! Rossweisse aimed to be the best Valkyrie when she grew up, and studied whereas her classmates wasted time on the opposite sex. With a short huff, she resigned to her fate and examined the craters for possible clues.

* * *

Two and half months later…

Saturday morning, the Occult Research Club decided to clean the old building since they were the only ones who used the building. Before the day's activities, the four club members convened at the main room to discuss the next course of action, namely revolving around a certain trio. To summarize, Koneko relayed "Jiraiya's" message to Rias, who had difficulty whether or not to even accept his apology. Both Sona and she had been on the receiving end of very powerful illusions, even if it's not completely "Jiraiya's" fault, he's still partly to blame. As the saying goes, "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Rias, the next head of the Gremory house since her brother relinquished the position once he was titled "Lucifer" and King of her own peerage, would have to make tough decisions now and in the future. Naruto wanted to make amends, but what about his accomplices, Sasuke and Sakura?

The pink-haired teen, who sat behind their target and possible future club member Issei Hyodo, seemed nice enough, but Sasuke Uchiha, he was completely different from the other two. Even though he obviously masked his presence, his onyx eyes held a bottomless darkness that swallowed anyone that crossed his path. However, "Jiraiya" had been nothing but a boon in terms of increasing her peerage's offensive capabilities and team cohesion. Koneko, traumatized since her sister's "betrayal," finally had been overcoming her past ghosts thanks to her building confidence under "Jiraiya's" tutelage. Even Issei Hyodo, her group's current target, had been making strides physically from Koneko's reports. If they were to invite him in the future, he would even more of an asset than just the sleeping sacred gear in his possession.

"If Jiraiya already had information on Rias and Sona, then he could have made peace beforehand. He made the choice not to," Yuuto Kiba voiced his opinion after listening to Koneko's surprising encounter with the strange man.

"We don't know the entire situation," Akeno countered, taking the other side. "From Koneko's report, 'Jiraiya' meant no harm, and he did say his friends and he will cause no more harm from here on. Perhaps it was just coincidence that our paths crossed?" The queen optimistically viewed the situation.

Sighing, Rias deeply exhaled and inhaled to get new oxygen into her brain. She didn't believe in coincidences. There had to be an underlying motive, and if there were, she had no idea what their plans were. Neither Rias nor Sona could touch these three. Sona had informed her of the confrontation with Sasuke beforehand, but since then, her best friend including her peerage members had their memory wiped clean. If "Jiraiya," Sasuke, and Sakura really wanted, they could disappear without a trace, or wipe both Rias and Sona out, but that would be stupid. If they had a complete background check on both heiresses, then they would know of their relations with two Satan Lords. Let's not forget the fact that they were still "human," clearly superhuman, but human all the same. Without adequate proof, innocent until proven guilty, she couldn't judge them, except Sasuke. The black-haired teen seemed to be the source of the problem.

Coming back to her decision, was Sasuke's presence worth the risk over "Jiraiya's" training. They could confront and demand them to leave and take what little Koneko has learned and try to build upon it by themselves. However, Sona attempted a similar tactic, and failed completely. Without "Jiraiya" here and now, Koneko might never learn to master the sage arts. With no positive solution and no cards left to play, Rias passed the ball to Koneko's court.

"Koneko, I really hate putting this much pressure on you, but since you've already been doing this, you'll be our official liaison between Jiraiya and us. If possible, try to set up a time when we may discuss with certain issues. We'll take extra precautions ahead should you successfully persuade him. Maybe he can reign in Sasuke's actions. Jiraiya wants to get on our good side so that he can stay in this city," The king updated her rook's mission. Koneko seemed to be the only one who could possibly convince Jiraiya, and if so, Rias may find a powerful new ally.

"As you wish," Koneko bowed subserviently. Rias, standing from her seat, prompted the shorter girl up and hugged her. Of course, Jiraiya may be bluffing and kill her rook, but with their backs to the wall, anything goes. "It's ok. I understand the circumstances," Koneko emotionlessly slid from her older peer's embrace. "When I find Issei Hyodo again with Jiraiya most likely, I will relay your message to him."

"Again, I'm very sorry for this," Rias apologized wholeheartedly once more, but Koneko shook her head. The rook already knew just how much her king cared for her subordinates, and with that responsibility came hard decisions.

With that settled, though still on every member's minds, the Occult Research Club began cleaning the old academy building.

The weekend passed, and a new school week started. The brunette pervert yawned on his way to school. Who knew his mentor had such horrid grammar? It was as if "Jiraiya" did not know how to write Japanese at all. Though on the parts he did understand, Issei found the story quite interesting, just as its predecessor. _Tales of Naruto Uzumaki_ was also set in the ninja world Jiraiya "made up" in _Tales of a Gutsy Ninja_, but sometime in the future. The main character of the gutsy ninja book, Naruto, evidently did not achieve peace. The five great shinobi villages were in a Cold War state much like how the United States and Soviet Union were in before it ended in the early 90's. A new "Naruto" was obviously the main character for the story which Issei was proofreading. A hyperactive, good for nothing pre-teen who went around and made the citizens' day worse, the pre-adolescent Naruto held the heavy burden of a jinchuriki, "power of the human sacrifice." Just after the first class of the morning, Issei, exhausted from editing the rough draft, slumped into his homeroom seat. As usual, Sakura sat behind him.

"Did 'Jiraiya' work you like a dog?" Sakura teased the teen sitting in the seat before her.

"Aside from the physical stress, he needs to work on his language skills," Issei leaned back into the seat until he looked at Sakura upside-down.

"Yeah, he was never the brightest," She waved him off. Partially true, both Jiraiya and Naruto were at the bottom of their respective classes during the ninja academy days.

"Hey Sakura, why did Jiraiya start writing?" The lecherous perv asked curiously.

"Well, 'Jiraiya' is as much of a pervert as you, if not more so. He gets inspiration for the Make-Out series from peeping on women. Even though he has faults, 'Jiraiya' is as human as the rest of us…" Sakura solemnly looked down to the lower right, "even more human than most of humanity. Though I know my other friend won't like me saying this, but where 'Jiraiya,' my other friend, and I come from, most people will never feel the pain that we felt. War ravaged our land. Everyone we know and love is essentially dead. He, that knucklehead, took it the hardest when we had to leave our home, and even literally left pieces of himself behind. I'm pretty sure he told you about his teacher and fellow student."

"Yeah, his sibling student inspired 'Jiraiya's' own sensei to write _Tales of a Gutsy Ninja_, but that doesn't answer why 'Jiraiya' started writing," Issei pointed out a discrepancy.

"Like I said before, he took it the hardest of all of us. Losing everything and having to leave home, I guess writing was an outlet to vent his emotions. He is a very energetic person, don't get me wrong, but everyone has two faces, as the saying goes. Writing reminds him of his sensei's and sibling student's wills, and gives him purpose in these trying times. No matter how much he stands up against the obstacles before him, 'Jiraiya' is human, and can't do everything by himself. That's why my friend and I are there to support him," Sakura half-heartedly smiled. Even as dense as Issei was, he could see and feel the pain underneath his pink-hair classmate's visage.

With that said, homeroom promptly started.

* * *

The school day went by as usual. Without any extracurricular activities, Issei met up with Naruto once again to run laps around the park. Though the entire time, the adolescent remained quiet. Just these short, almost two weeks since he first encountered this man, Issei's entire view of the world widened in scope. All around him, even in this bountiful society that is Japan, many did not share the wealth. These industrial riches were built on the bodies of those who died in war. No wonder Naruto despised war so much. From what Sakura said, he lost everything to war.

"Hey," Jiraiya stopped at the central fountain as they routinely did after warming up. "Are you alright? I'm surprised you haven't complained yet about all the work I placed on you."

"Yeah, um, it's nothing…" Issei shrugged him off.

"Look, I can tell something is on your mind, but if you don't want to talk about it, that's up to you. I'll let you go early since I put an extra load on you on top of your school work," the spiky, long-hair transformed Naruto cut time short.

"Wha…really?" dumbfounded, Issei spluttered his words. He wasn't even gasping for breath anymore from the warm-ups.

"Yeah, yeah, but don't take this extra time for granted. Keep up with your school work, and my stuff. I also suggest you find some type of extracurricular soon. I won't always be around to take up the rest of your day," Naruto warned against the procrastination that plague students no matter who or where they are in the world, or any world.

"Thanks!" With that, Issei headed home early.

"Welp," Naruto, once the male teen was out of sight, sat on the fountain's concrete rim, "is this how we're going to meet every time? It gets kinda old after a while, ya know?" the transformed Naruto looked at a grove of trees before a lone figure popped out from behind.

"Your detection skills are as keen as ever," Koneko vaguely complimented.

"Well, what did Rias say?" He smiled; it seemed as though the little yokai was becoming more comfortable around him.

"She wishes to meet you, but under her conditions. You understand that your accomplices and you have already crossed certain boundaries. You want our trust, then you have to trust us first," Koneko delivered the ultimatum.

Naruto facepalmed. He knew his friend's and his actions up-to-now would come back and kick him in the ass. Now he's on the two heiress's blacklist. The last thing he needed was two princesses extracting information from him. If he did go through with Rias's demands, Sasuke would undoubtedly try to fix the situation on his terms, and that would benefit no one. Naruto could not control Sasuke, even under the conditions placed on his transmigrated brother. Sometimes, Naruto wished that he hadn't given him such free will, but that would go against his morals. He'll fix this situation his own way, whether or not Sasuke liked it.

"Can't say I didn't deserve this," he sighed. "I rather not start a fight with those two. I'll agree to demands, but I decide what information to withhold or reveal. Got it?" Naruto met Rias halfway. If Naruto ever got the chance to return home and become Hokage, there would be many political issues he'd have to compromise on. Violence and underhanded tactics, the values the shinobi would was built upon, should no longer be the answers, but diplomacy and good faith.

"Ok," Koneko nodded.

"Heh, what was that on your face?" Naruto smirked. "Was that a hint of a smile just now? I don't blame you. I want to resolve this situation on good terms as well," He, with a huge grin on his face, reassured her, but caused the little adolescent girl to blush slightly.

"It's nothing…" Koneko deflected his teasing; though, she desired to end this conflict as well.

"But…" The atmosphere around Naruto turned darker, "if things don't work out now or something happens in the future and I have to leave, I would like to ask a favor of you: please look after Issei Hyodo. I already know that your group is interested in him and whatever he possesses. There will be dark times ahead for him, and if I'm not there, I would like capable hands I trust to keep him safe," Naruto bowed before the much shorter girl before him. Vali, the White Dragon Emperor, was light-years ahead of Issei. Even if Naruto had to rely on devils, at least he knew Koneko and her friends would not abuse Issei's latent power. With that said and done, she agreed and returned to her club.

* * *

**A/N:** That's chapter five. Thanks to my beta reader, fairy tail dragon slayer, for correcting character traits, grammar, and story flow and structure. I thank those who read and reviewed this story so far.

I apologize for updating so late. Life hit full force, and I have barely enough time to write down anything.

I've decided to restart this story since the current format isn't going to fit the plot in future chapters. When I started writing, I decided to split the story into two branches with a few months gap in-between the two so that I can drop hints and plot points so that readers may notice them and make connections. However, the first branch, basically the backstory or "flashback" episodes, has too much content and would not catch up with the current timeline, or later part, until a good number of chapters in the future. By then, the two will have too much plot content such that the story will confuse the readers. I'll leave this story up so that readers who want to refer back to this story may do so. I hope the revamped, and continuous version of this story from beginning to end will make some parts clear. Thank you readers who have contributed or reviewed _Pervert x Pervert_.

X-saviour.


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